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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 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!

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.