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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.

January 8, 2024

December 28, 2023 As 2023 began drawing to its inevitable close, our friend Jesse W. Jackson of Set Lusting Bruce: A Bruce Springsteen Podcast invited a panel of fellow Springsteen fans for an in-depth 90-minutes discussion, reviewing and analyzing the ups and downs of this year for fans of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. On the panel with Jesse moderating: film-scholar, writer/editor, and Letters To You contributor Caroline Madden, writer Joyce Millman, and Letters To You editor/publisher Shawn Poole. Click the embedded YouTube link below to hear - and see - everybody, courtesy of the Set Lusting Bruce YouTube channel. We got to touch upon pretty much every major Springsteen-related event of 2023, except for the latest Live.BruceSpringsteen.net archival-series "Christmastime surprise extra" release, which hadn't yet been announced/released when we recorded this conversation back on December 11 (though we did speculate a bit as to whether it'd happen again this year.) Thanks, Jesse, and Happy New Year, everybody! Overall, 2023 still was another great year to be a Springsteen fan, and 2024 is looking to be even better...

December 24, 2023 Dear Letters To You Readers, Although it's now more than a decade old, this officially released version of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's Asbury Park Carousel performance of "Blue Christmas" (embedded below) still feels like the perfect thing to share with all of you on this Christmas Eve, as we also get ready to count down the final week, days, hours, minutes, and - before we know it - seconds of 2023. Major themes of this year's tour were aging, loss, mortality, and - most important, in my view - how to cope with such things in ways that aren't simply depressing but instead are ultimately meaningful, uplifting, and life-affirming. To me, that's also what this version of "Blue Christmas" is all about, Charlie Brown. This certainly has been a rollercoaster of a year for Bruce, the band, and their fans. Beginning early on in the tour, various band members began missing some gigs due to health concerns, and of course eventually a big chunk of the tour's scheduled dates had to be postponed due to a genuinely debilitating health issue for Bruce himself (albeit a temporary one, it appears, and we certainly hope so.) Yet here we are now, as the year closes, with a proclamation of "no... bellyache" and very encouraging signs indeed that Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band will be not only back onstage as promised and rescheduled, but also healthy and firing on all cylinders once more. So I think this "Blue Christmas" video touches on all of the 2023 tour's themes, ups, and downs listed above. First off, the song itself is right in your face with its blunt depiction of loss and a Yuletide "without you." Those blue memories callin' and blue heartaches hurtin' could be just as much the result of the death of a loved one as they could be from the end of a romance. With that in mind, this version of "Blue Christmas" becomes just as moving and meaningful as all of those nightly show-closing performances of "I'll See You In My Dreams." And right there onscreen are some sweet souls departed... the immortal Clarence "Big Man" Clemons, of course (in his final public performance with Springsteen and the E Street Band, less than a year before his death,) joined this year by the late, great David Lindley, whom we lost to COVID-19 complications in early March. We also currently have a "man down" with an ongoing health concern in the E Street Horns lineup, as we wish Clark Gayton - seen (and heard) in "Blue Christmas" makin' that sassy New Orleans-style trombone swing - the fastest, fullest possible recovery from the stroke he suffered shortly before this year began. But as for the very end of "Blue Christmas"... Well, to paraphrase what Bruce reiterated during every 2023 performance of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," this is the most important part. He enters one of the Carousel's standing areas for his small in-person audience, and the entire audience - appropriately decked out in Santa hats - begins gathering around him as he and the band begin their big finish to the performance. Springsteen then stares straight into the cameras and says to his much larger viewing audience, "Happy Holidays... Happy New Year... from the E Street Band! We'll be seein' ya soon!" And right there, Dear Readers, in a nutshell, is the promise and the hope that Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band offer to all of us for 2024. Thanks so very much to each and every one of you for your interest and support as we launched Letters To You this year. All the best to you and yours this holiday season. Happy Holidays... Happy New Year... and we, too, look forward to seein' ya again soon. -- Shawn Poole, Editor/Publisher

...with the archival release of The Reunion Tour's first official U.S. show! December 22, 2023 Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and there is - yet again - an additional live archival release from Live.BruceSpringsteen.net at Christmastime! Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ - July 15, 1999 was the first official U.S. concert by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band on their Reunion Tour, after launching the tour with a European leg that began in Barcelona just over three months earlier. It marked their first official U.S. concert performance together in more than a decade. (They last performed together on United States soil at the final U.S. show of Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! Tour, which occurred on Springsteen's 39th birthday: September 23, 1988.) Once again, ace mixer-masterer Jon Altschiller and his team make you feel like you're in the arena (or back in the arena if you were lucky enough to be there) for Bruce and the band's triumphant return to their home-country and his home-state. “Good evening, New Jersey. We’re gonna bring it to you,” promises Springsteen, just before they launch into "My Love Will Not Let You Down." Also included in this very strong 26-song set are prime performances of "Darkness On The Edge Of Town," "Darlington County," "Where The Bands Are," "Streets Of Philadelphia," and "Backstreets," plus a rare "Stand On It" and the first U.S. arena performance of "Land Of Hope And Dreams." Click here to read Nugs/Columbia's Erik Flannigan's essay "I Hear The Guitars Ringin’ Out Again" and click here to purchase Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ - July 15, 1999.

December 22, 2023 Today marks the 30th anniversary of the late, great Jonathan Demme's groundbreaking film Philadelphia receiving its initial official theatrical release. On December 22, 1993, the film opened on a limited basis in just four U.S. theaters, making it possible to qualify for the Academy Award nominations announced in early February of 1994. By the time those nominations were announced, of course, the film had received a much wider national and international release, and six weeks later it went on to win two Academy Awards. Tom Hanks won his first Best Actor Oscar, while Bruce Springsteen won his first and, to date, only Oscar for the song he wrote and contributed to the film, "Streets of Philadelphia" (first released officially on the Philadelphia soundtrack album in January 1994, in conjunction with the film's wide release.) Springsteen's recording of that song also remains, to date, his last Top Ten hit single. We'll have much more on Philadelphia and "Streets of Philadelphia" from our contributing writer and Springsteen as Soundtrack expert Caroline Madden in March 2024, when we mark the 30th anniversary of Bruce's Oscar win. In the meantime, however, since this month also marks the 30th anniversary of the filming of the "Streets of Philadelphia" music-video on December 6 and 7, 1993, below you can download an archival PDF of Shawn Poole's 1994 Aquarian Weekly article about the locations used in filming the music-video. And for an updated, 21st-century approach to the same subject, check out Philly-based illustrator/filmmaker/animator/musician Peaches Goodrich's stellar work here.

December 19, 2023 For this holiday season, we at Letters To You have an extra-special gift for our readers, courtesy of E Street Radio personality and Letters To You contributor Greg Drew. Below, Greg shares some of his memories of serving as his (and our) good friend Dave Marsh's "Head Elf/Dresser/etc." during the many Christmastimes Past in which Dave used to play Santa Claus for the Kristen Ann Carr Fund's holiday events. Through more than two decades, their adventures together included many encounters - humorous, heartbreaking, and heartwarming - with many fellow passengers along the way, including a certain well-known musician from the swamps of Jersey. But before we let Greg begin his tale, here first is an important, brief reflection from "Santa Dave" himself, via an excerpt from Kick Out The Jams..., the latest anthology of his great, essential writing, published earlier this year. (By the way, if you haven't done so yet, there's still some time to click here and purchase a copy of it as a holiday gift for someone special and/or yourself. You also can click here to read our appropriately massive September 2023 feature on Dave, his writing, and his newest anthology.) "My daughter Kristen dying changed everything. My heroes had been rock stars, mostly. But the patients - the kids - became my heroes. And the doctors and everyone at Sloan Kettering. We started the Kristen Ann Carr Fund to try to support them. "The most important thing I did in that period of time - to me - was when I played Santa Claus for the kids at Sloan Kettering. ’Cause here are kids confronting the most profound despair. And kids are smart; kids know that they’re dying when they’re dying. Kristen was twenty-one; still pretty damn young. No, everybody doesn’t lose eventually. And no, everybody doesn’t die at thirteen. And yes, you have every right you care to have to be and act furious. "My wife Barbara essentially had her entire raison d’être torn out of her body, and she got up the next morning and she did what she had to do. And the reason she did was, if she hadn’t, she would have betrayed Kristen and violated her in some fundamental way. We kept trying. And that’s a lesson about politics and about a lot of other things." -Dave Marsh, "Introduction to Section 2 - The 1990s" in Kick Out the Jams: Jibes,Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries from 35 Years of Music Writing Forget your professional athletes, TV personalities, rock stars, and even Popeye. They can't hold a candle to the man in the red suit. You've just read Dave Marsh's perspective, so here's my holiday story about what became my two favorite days of the year, every year, for more than twenty years. Because I was Santa Dave's Head Elf/Dresser/Security/Gift-Bag Delivery-Boy/Consigliere. A little background is required... After stalking Dave at various book-signings through the late 1970s/early 1980s, at first we became what I would call "music business friends." Originally, as an artist, I was anxious to get his opinion on my music. I figured if he liked it, I was on the right track. Later, when vocal coaching became my full time job, I was always eager to get his thoughts on people I was working with, while also learning from him and his wife Barbara Carr (Bruce Springsteen's co-manager at the time) about the workings of the music business. (How lucky was that!) I also would make occasional research contributions to his books and to what eventually became his monthly Rock and Rap Confidential newsletter. I'm not sure I would call him my "mentor" - I doubt he'd like that title - but the knowledge and insights I gleaned were invaluable to me and to my vocal clients, in turn. When Kristen got sick, it was devastating for all of us who knew her and Dave and Barbara. Her funeral and burial are still the saddest I've ever attended, and that includes each of the ones for my parents. I knew the family was determined to fight back, so it made total sense that the Kristen Ann Carr Fund (KACF) was established soon after her passing, with its first major public event being Bruce Springsteen's fundraising benefit concert at Madison Square Garden in 1993, and the fund was off and running. In 1994, Kristen's friends began organizing their own fundraising events, including the first "A Night to Remember" benefit, and I was able to help Michael Solomon (Kristen's boyfriend) organize a benefit performance of Fallen Angel, an off-Broadway musical about an up-and-coming band. The fact that the show starred my vocal client/dear friend Corey Glover from Living Colour helped to "grease the skids" more than a little. So with all of that, when the Fund decided to throw a Holiday Party for the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) pediatric outpatients at the Hard Rock Cafe, I and several others were invited to celebrate and help out if needed. Little did I know... I already was aware that Dave owned a Santa suit, but I was under the impression that it had been used mainly for young relatives and family friends. Upon arriving, when I was told that Dave would be serving as Santa and handing out gift-bags at the end of the night, I really didn't know what to expect. As you might imagine, the Marsh-Carr team had a bit of pull, so among the guests to interact with the patients that night were three stars of the New York Rangers hockey team, fresh off their Stanley Cup triumph earlier in the year, the rap group Fu-Schnickens and, to photograph the festivities, the great Neal Preston. My assignment was to keep a bit of order in the autograph lines and provide the celebrity guests with any desired refreshments. Easy enough. After a bit, I saw Dave exit into the storage-area where he'd stashed his Santa suit and I figured he'd be out in a few minutes. But more than a few minutes went by, and Ms. Carr asked me to go see what was holding things up. So I went back to where Dave was and I saw him, about one-third dressed, fumbling around with his beard and wig, all the while joking with Neal and clearly not in a hurry. Given who had sent me, I felt I could speak more authoritatively than usual, and I said " Okay Santa, it's time to stop fooling around, get dressed, and get out to those kids. And I'm here to help." Now, at this point in my life, I had never helped an adult male to get dressed, let alone dressed as Santa Claus, but I was on a mission. And while the Marsh-Preston banter never stopped, I did manage to get the boots, wig, and beard on Santa Dave. The last thing needed was to get the red Santa jacket on and it was not easy, considering the beard hanging down and the non-stop chatter. Neal was taking pictures of this whole ordeal. As I grew somewhat frustrated, through clenched teeth, I spit out the following to Dave: "Will you hold your beard, so I can zip you up?!" I quickly followed that up with, "I don't believe I've ever uttered that sentence before, and I think Neal Preston took a photo of me saying it." Amongst much laughter, we finished our task, and Santa was ready for the MSKCC patients. I, quite by accident, had acquired a new duty with Dave and the Fund. For the next couple of years, I assisted Santa Dave at the outpatient parties, helping him to get dressed and presentable, and assisting with the distribution of Santa's lavish gift-bags. The folks at MSKCC loved the parties and appreciated all that KACF was doing for the hospital. So after a few years, I got a call one November from Dave, saying that the Pediatric Department at MSKCC wanted him to be the Santa for their big in-house Pediatric Holiday Party, and he hoped I would be available to help out. "Absolutely," I told him, and we found ourselves at MSKCC a few weeks later. As we soon would discover, these two holiday parties were very distinct events. Over the years, the outpatient party was held in several different but festive New York locations, The Hard Rock Cafe and the wonderfully interactive Sony Wonder exhibit being the two most prominent. KACF volunteers were invited, and as a treat for the patients and their families, a number of celebrities would attend - star New York athletes, TV and movie stars, a bunch of music-business folks (particularly when the party was at the Sony building,) and, of course, a certain New Jersey-based rock star. (More on him in a bit.) Of course the in-house party at MSKCC was quite different. Other than the incredible pediatric staff of MSKCC, who are among the best people doing an incredibly difficult job I've ever been privileged to know, the only ones there were the sick children from all over the country and the world, their families, and me and Santa. I'm what's known as an "easy cry," and Dave's not far behind, but we were determined to bring at least a few hours of happiness to these folks. We got the suit on, I did my best to make Santa Dave look like the real deal. (Back then, padding was involved, less as the years went on.) And then the magic happened. My friend Dave Marsh, the occasionally biting and sarcastic rock critic, BECAME Santa Claus. (Maybe it shouldn't have been too surprising that the Christmas-music-loving co-author of Merry Christmas, Baby: Holiday Music from Bing to Sting would transform into such a successful Santa, but still...) The couple of warm-ups at the outpatient parties were nice; this was the real deal. While the age range of the patients ran from infancy to early twenties, Santa found a way to relate to them all. For the younger true believers, they sat on his lap, he asked all the right questions, and he would talk with them for as long as they wanted. Their visits usually ended with a Polaroid photo of them (and often their families) with Santa. For the older children, Santa would stand up to greet them and talk with them like grown-ups, which they clearly appreciated. I would hand out the age-appropriate gift-bags and stay close enough to occasionally give Santa some water - that suit can get pretty warm - and hear a bit of Santa's conversations, while staying enough out of earshot so as to not burst into tears every ten or so minutes. The MSKCC folk had told us we'd probably be there for "a couple of hours or so"; as we were approaching Hour Four with a line of guests still waiting for their turn with Santa, they worriedly approached me. I indicated that Santa was having the time of his life, a fact that Dave later confirmed. And that cinched it; me and Santa had two holiday gigs each year for the next twenty-plus years. Back to the outpatient holiday party... In addition to the Rangers, various Knicks and Yankees came throughout the years, along with Michael J. Fox, Miranda Cosgrove, Frank Caruso, and Popeye, to name a few. But after all, this is Letters To You, so let's talk Bruce, shall we? Mr. Springsteen treated this event exactly like his fans would imagine. When available to attend (I mean, he does have another job or three,) he would drive from New Jersey into midtown Manhattan during Christmas season...not at all a pleasant task. And while there, he would talk with the patients, take pictures with them and their families, and generally spread some holiday love. I have two favorite Bruce memories: First, Sony Wonder had an elaborate sign-in set up where they'd take your hand print and photo, then print out ID's for the guests (not unlike what one basically has to do to enter any Manhattan office building these days, but this was twenty years ago.) After I had gotten Santa Dave dressed, he thought it'd be fun to get a "Santa" ID taken, so we snuck up to the entrance and went through. Not ten feet in front of us was Bruce, who had just checked in, and so Santa called out "There's that nice boy who sings that song about me!" As he's turning around, Bruce responded with that distinctive Jersey rasp, "Santa!! Good to see you! You gonna make it out to Jersey this year?" I think some of the younger patients within earshot who were on the fence decided that this was, in fact, The REAL SANTA. The second memory is from many years later... I'm guessing the 2010s. Bruce was once again holding court at Sony Wonder, though by this point, the parents of the teenaged patients seemed more interested in getting their time and photo with him. When it was time for me to collect Dave for his Santa transformation, I walked past where Bruce was and saw and heard the following: Bruce talking on a cell phone, with a teenage girl standing on either side of him... Cue that distinctive rasp... "Yeah, it's me... No, it's really me... I'm here with your niece and her friend, and they wanted me to call you... No, it's my pleasure. How you doin'?" As the years went on, Santa and I took our job even more seriously... several new Santa outfits, improved wigs and beards, boots, gloves, etc. Every year at the outpatient party, which was always scheduled first, I'd open the Santa-suit sack to find additional upgrades. And along the way, we did have some special helpers. Dave's nephew James came along to MSKCC very early on. Although young, he was great with both the patients and their families. In addition, James was another person for me and Santa to talk with, if things were getting too heavy. We lost him when he began his full time career in NYC, but he would occasionally sneak by on his lunch hour when he could, and I'll always consider him my first "elf partner in crime." Another early helper was Kara, who worked with Dave and Jim Rotolo on Dave's weekly Kick Out The Jams radio show at SiriusXM. She had heard about our little adventure, and decided she wanted to see what all the fuss was about on her way to the office. Before I got Dave dressed, I gave her the basic instructions: 1) Once he's in the suit, he's only SANTA, not Dave, and 2) Don't expect him to be anything like he is at SiriusXM. I could tell she was more than a little skeptical about the last comment, but once we got Santa out to the playroom and interacting with the patients, it only took about three kids. She came over to me and said, "Who is this person in the suit, and what have you done with Dave?" I said something about a Christmas miracle, she laughed, and when she had to leave for work, I think she had a newfound appreciation for her co-worker. The last of the very special helpers was Lexi, the daughter of Ali Oscar at Jon Landau Management. When Lexi was quite young, less than ten I believe, we showed up at the outpatient party to find her dressed in the cutest elf outfit and ready to assist. While she looked like something out of a Hallmark movie, both Dave and I privately discussed if it all might be a little too much for someone that young, and we were a bit nervous. Boy, were we wrong! She was a total natural - great with the patients and their families, and always taking the best photos with them, as well as keeping me on my toes to make sure they all got the right gift-bags, including ones for any siblings who were in attendance. After a number of years of being the belle of the ball, she outgrew the idea of the elf outfit, and it was our loss. However, several years later, Ali and Dave decided she was old enough to handle the intensity of the MSKCC inpatient party, and so she came along to that. (Don't know if they ever had a similar discussion about me; probably good if they didn't.) When you think about it, is there a worse place to be for a child during holiday season than a cancer hospital? If so, I'm hard-pressed to think of one. And for teens, I think it's even a bit worse. Most of the patients are much younger or much older, the staff is all older, and you're old enough to realize that you don't really have any connection to your fellow teens or fellow patients. So when a smart, charming, thoughtful and lovely teenage girl came to assist Santa, it was a treat, and the smiles she brought to the faces of the teenage boys and girls stay with me to this day. Thanks, Lexi! In the last ten or so years, our responsibilities at MSKCC grew. After the morning session with all of the children in the playroom, I was given a cart full of gift-bags to push around, and Santa visited the treatment area for those patients who couldn't make it to the playroom festivities. We then got a lunch break, hidden from view so that Santa could remove his beard and wig during this respite. We were usually joined by doctors from the hospital, often including that year's KACF Sarcoma Surgical Fellow. Dave, who was very active with the MSKCC community, would talk with them about medical issues and the progress being made fighting cancer. I would sit and listen, and understand about every third sentence being uttered, and be remarkably quiet for me. But soon enough, I would be back in my comfort zone, helping Santa with his wig and beard and helping him look "just so." After a few years of the hospital gig, it was explained to us that there were a number of patients who were too sick to leave their rooms and couldn't make it down to the playroom party. Santa said "Well, we can go to them." So after lunch, we would walk the pediatric floor, me pushing the cart full of gift-bags, and Santa visiting all of the room-bound children, even to the point of me helping Santa "gown up" for the quarantined. In many ways, this was always the most emotional part of the day: children too sick to even leave their hospital room lighting up when they realized Santa had "found them," even though they weren't at home; parents, in the midst of dealing with their worst nightmare, smiling through tears at their young ones' delight at the sight of the man in the red suit... It was a gift to us, me and Santa Dave. Every year, Nina and Jill from MSKCC would thank us, as would all the staff we interacted with - and let's face it, everyone wanted to interact with Santa - for doing this. And every year, we would thank them for the privilege of being allowed to be a part of it. We also began to notice, as our annual visits continued, that each year there were fewer kids who were severely ill. It was a very encouraging sign that the medical research funded by The Kristen Ann Carr Fund and other organizations was making significant breakthroughs in treating various cancers, including the kind of cancer that Kristen had. The pandemic did a number on these types of gatherings, so Santa Dave and I now find ourselves retired. I miss terribly those two special days every year, especially the part when it was just me and Dave transforming into Santa. Things got a lot smoother after that first Hard Rock appearance, but it still took some time to make Santa look his best. So there was time to catch up, talk music and life, and all the while, I knew I was about to participate in the best thing I'd do that year, every year. And in case you think I'm being a bit over the top with my praise of Santa Dave, one year, Nina and/or Jill told Dave that the folks from Macy's had called. They had heard about the Pediatric Holiday Party and wanted to know if MSKCC wanted to use "their Santa..." - you know, the one from the Macy's parade every year on TV... "the Santa" - for the party. Macy's was told, "No, thanks, we're good." When Dave told me, we both got choked up, exchanged a high-five, and he managed to get out, "I couldn't have done it without you." My answer then, as it remains now: "It was my distinct honor and privilege." So you better be good, for goodness' sake... You can click here to donate in support of the Kristen Ann Carr Fund's important, ongoing work this holiday season.

December 18, 2023 Though the deadline for ordering anything to be delivered in time for Christmas Day gift-giving has now passed, our friend Jim Shive, the great rock photographer, has kindly extended his special offer for all Letters To You readers through the end of this calendar year. As we wind down the 45th-anniversary celebration-year of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's historic Darkness on the Edge of Town Tour, the final concert of which celebrated New Year's Eve 1978, Jim is continuing his very special offer for Letters To You readers who are interested in purchasing one or more prints from his "The Darkness Editions" collection at The Shive Archive website. Using the coupon code LETTERS when you check out, you'll receive a 15% discount on each and every Giclee Limited Edition print that you order through New Year's Eve 2023. Click here to browse and place your orders, using the special LETTERS coupon code. You can start the new year off right by treating yourself and/or others to one or more of Jim's beautiful photos from '78, like the shots you see here and/or the ones featured in our previous post about Jim and this special offer, as well as in Jim's "Holiday Takeover" of our social-media pages on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We want to thank Jim Shive again for making this special Holiday Season 2023 offer happen, and we look forward to working with Jim on more special offers for our readers in 2024 and beyond. All photos by James Shive; used with permission.

December 15, 2023 Everything from Darlene Love, backed by Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, that was broadcast on today's episode of The View... and more:

December 13, 2023 To quote noted psychiatric expert Lucille "Lucy" van Pelt in A Charlie Brown Christmas, "We've even got a Christmas Queen!" Darlene Love, performing her platinum-certified classic "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" backed by Max Weinberg's Jukebox, was a surprise addition to the bill of Monday night's annual "Night of Too Many Stars" benefit for NEXT for AUTISM at New York's Beacon Theatre. Mighty Max also served as Music Director for the evening. Another highlight from that night: Max and his Jukebox band backing Adam (Hanukkah King?) Sandler and Rob Schneider on their version of the Elvis Presley classic "It's Now Or Never." DVR alert: Tomorrow, Friday, December 15, Darlene Love's annual performance of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on ABC's The View will find her backed by none other than Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul! The View will air live tomorrow morning, beginning at 11am ET. UPDATE: Darlene Love revealed on her Facebook page that The View's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" performance actually was pre-recorded on Thursday, December 14 to better accommodate her currently extra-busy concert schedule. She also shared a link for this Insider Edition report on the pre-recording: And tomorrow night Darlene Love's Love for the Holidays concert will make its Garden State stop at Red Bank, NJ's Count Basie Center for the Arts. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

November 28, 2023 Plenty of chances remain to catch Max Weinberg in action, with or without his Jukebox band, through the end of this year and into January 2024. It's a very good time to witness The Mighty One's power and finesse before he gets back on the riser for the resumption of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's tour, beginning in March 2024. Max - ever the unstoppable "drumaholic" - also remains available to perform at private events for charities, organizational benefits, personal celebrations such as anniversaries, special gatherings, etc. Email Kick 10 Sports and Entertainment at kick10mark@gmail.com for all inquiries and details. Below for easy reference is a list of Mighty Max's currently scheduled appearances. Visit MaxWeinberg.com for details and all ticket-purchasing links, including those for meet-and-greet options: November 30 - Tucson, AZ - Fox Theater - (Max Weinberg's Jukebox) December 1 - Phoenix, AZ - Musical Instrument Museum - (Max Weinberg's Jukebox) December 2 - Las Vegas, NV - Cosmopolitan Hotel- (Max Weinberg's Jukebox) December 9 - Palm Beach, FL - private event December 11 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre - Night of Too Many Stars (NEXT for Autism benefit) - (Music Director for the evening, with house-band The Max Weinberg 9) UPDATE: house-band switched to Max Weinberg's Jukebox December 21- New York, NY - private event: Little Steven’s Policeman's Ball - (The Max Weinberg Orchestra) January 20 - Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Center for the Arts - Light of Day Winterfest 2024 - (Max Weinberg's Jukebox)

December 12, 2023 As we reported previously, the most recent episode of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Radio series From My Home To Yours is a California-themed show entitled "California Sun." In addition to playing a great set of musical recordings connected to that theme, Springsteen can be heard throughout the show reading several poems or excerpts from poems that also fit well in an episode focused on The Golden State. Springsteen identifies by name almost all of the authors of the poems, with only one exception: Dan Higgins. Higgins wrote two of the California-themed poems read by Springsteen in the episode, "Golden Dreams" (read by Bruce just before he plays Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's "California Soul") and "Surf's Symphony" (read by Bruce just before he plays The Beach Boys' "California Saga" single.) Yet, unlike what occurs after every other poem is read on the show, we never hear Springsteen state the title of either of Higgins' poems or credit him as their author. We recently tracked down Dan Higgins as the source of the show's two "mystery poems" and reached out to him. Since Dan currently resides in Enfield, North London, he doesn't have any direct access to the programming of SiriusXM satellite-radio and its channels such as E Street Radio. Therefore, he wasn't yet aware of Bruce Springsteen having read his poetry on-air, until we informed him about it and sent him the relevant audio-snippets of the show. "Imagine my surprise," Higgins recently told us, "when I recognized my own lines, my own metaphors, being delivered in the iconic voice of Bruce Springsteen. It was a moment of immense pride and surreal excitement. To have my words reach such a wide audience, voiced by a figure as legendary as Bruce, is truly an honor that every poet aspires to." At the same time, understandably the pleasantness of the surprise was diminished at least somewhat by learning that he was the only uncredited poet featured on the show. "Isn't it a fascinating paradox? On one hand, hearing my words echo from the speakers, being delivered by none other than the legendary Bruce Springsteen, was an experience both surreal and exhilarating. It's the kind of moment every poet dreams of, isn't it? On the other hand, the lack of attribution was a rather jarring note. It reminded me once again of the importance of acknowledging creativity." Nevertheless, overall Dan's taken in very good stride what has been a rather amazing roller-coaster kind of experience for him, especially since his California-themed poetry sprang from someone who's lived most of his life in England, spending only a brief time in California while visiting some friends a while ago. Of course, one measure of Higgins' poetic powers is just how much his "Golden Dreams" and "Surf's Symphony" poems obviously resonated with someone like Springsteen, who has such a strong and deep connection to California. Dan remains very posItive, humble, and grateful in regards to this surprise Springsteenian spotlight on his poetry. While Higgins is not any kind of major Springsteen fan (preferring punk and ska as his "go-to" musical genres,) he still fully recognizes and appreciates the significance of his poems having been selected for and read on an episode of From My Home To Yours. "Bruce Springsteen," Dan recently told us, "has undoubtedly left an indelible mark on the world of music. His iconic sound, his raw storytelling - both have won him legions of fans across the globe... I wholly appreciate the impact Springsteen's had on rock and roll; his contributions to the genre are undeniable." Higgins also remains very much grounded by his daily community, family, and professional responsibilities. "I wear many hats," says Dan, "teacher, father, husband, Elder, poet, and mentor. Each role enriches me, teaching me valuable lessons that I strive to share with others." Both he and his wife Katy are primary-school teachers. "My day begins in the classroom, a lively space filled with curious minds eager to learn. As an educator, there's nothing more rewarding than guiding these young individuals on their learning journeys. But isn't it even more special when you can share this experience with someone you love? Katy, also a teacher at the same school, is my constant source of inspiration. Recognizing the universal challenges that teachers face, I decided to create a teaching website, with Katy's assistance and support. It's called The Teaching Couple. Here, I share my insights, strategies, and resources to support other educators in their journey. "Together, we not only navigate the world of education but also the adventures of parenting our four-year-old son. Being a parent has taught me patience, empathy, and the art of storytelling - skills that have proven invaluable in my professional life as well. But my roles don't end at school or home. As an Elder at our local church, I have the honor of leading and mentoring our congregation. This role allows me to connect with people on a deeper level, offering guidance and support just as I do in my classroom. It's another facet of my life that enriches my perspective as an educator. So, as you can see, my life is an intertwining of roles - each one influencing and enriching the other. "And then there is poetry. I get so much joy from crafting a poem! There's a certain rhythm to it, a flow that's almost meditative. Whether I'm penning verses about my experiences, observations, or the simple beauty of life, poetry adds a layer of creativity to my life, making every day a little more vibrant. If people enjoy poetry, I have spent the last few years writing over 340 poems about lots of different subjects." You can click here to view a listing of and links for all of the poems that Dan has published at the Teaching Couple website, including his California-themed poems that were selected for From My Home To Yours, Volume 31 - "California Sun." If you're a SiriusXM subscriber, the "California Sun" episode and all other episodes of From My Home To Yours remain available as on-demand listening by clicking here for the SiriusXM app. (Enter "springsteen from my home to yours" in the search-engine.) And the next time you hear Bruce Springsteen reading "Golden Dreams" or "Surf's Symphony," you'll know that we're happy to have joined with Bruce in shining a well-deserved spotlight on the work of Dan Higgins.