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August 20, 2024 Last year, when the hardcover, eBook, and audio editions of Dave Marsh's excellent anthology Kick Out The Jams: Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries from 35 Years of Music Writing were published, Letters To You published an extensive feature on Marsh, his writing and commentary's importance to fans of Bruce Springsteen's music, as well as of course to those interested in popular music as a whole, and its various roles in reflecting and shaping societal changes. You can click here to read our September 2023 feature. With the arrival this year of the trade-paperback edition of Kick Out The Jams , which officially becomes available today, we at Letters To You are pleased to present to our readers a special new podcast. Earlier this month, editor/publisher Shawn Poole was joined by contributing writers Greg Drew and Lisa Iannucci in recording an extensive and interesting conversation with Kick Out The Jams co-editors Daniel Wolff and Danny Alexander . For over an hour, we discussed in depth with Alexander and Wolff the latest Marsh anthology, focusing mainly on eight pieces in the anthology with strong connections to the work of Bruce Springsteen: “Elvis: The New Deal Origins of Rock ‘n’ Roll” “Dance With the Devil” “John Hammond: Remembering The Conscience of American Music” “The Death of Rock” “They Can’t Kill Rock and Roll But They’re Trying” “I Shall Be Free: The Blacklisting of the Dixie Chicks” “Greetings From New Orleans, LA” “To Set Our Souls Free” Not surprisingly, at times the conversation also veered off E Street a bit, diving deep into not just Springsteen but some of the many other artists and issues that Dave Marsh has explored in more than five decades of music-based criticism, journalism, and activism. You can hear it all on either our SoundCloud or YouTube platforms, both of which are linked below: And if you haven't done so yet, click here to order your copy of Kick Out The Jams: Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries from 35 Years of Music Writing , now available in hardcover, eBook, audio, and trade-paperback editions. We think you'll be very glad that you did. As our friend and fellow fan of both Springsteen and Marsh, Dr. Lauren Onkey , wrote in her excellent introduction to the anthology, "There’s a maturity in these pieces, a desire not to escape through the music but to use it to embrace life’s pain and complexities. It’s adult in the best sense of that word. What shines through is the belief that rock and soul and rap and pop and folk are an opportunity for possibility, for hope. Not because they offer a free ride, but because the music—and the communal experience of making and listening to the music—gives us a chance to change ourselves and our communities...In addition to turning you on to a lot of great music, I hope this collection pushes you to act. Our lives depend on it."

September 15, 2023 Today marks the 60th anniversary of the racist/terrorist bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, a major historical event in the Civil Rights Movement. Back in 1963, September 15th fell on a Sunday morning. A pre-planted bomb had been set to explode during Sunday-morning activities at the church, which also had become one of the most important venues for Civil Rights Movement meetings and gatherings. The bomb killed four young girls - none older than fourteen - and injured almost two dozen other congregants. "Well, I was killed in 1963, one Sunday morning in Birmingham," sings Bruce Springsteen in Wrecking Ball 's closing track, "We Are Alive." Cleopatra "Cleo" Kennedy, who sang in Springsteen's 1992-93 touring band, was a key member of 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963, though fortunately she wasn't present at the church on the day of its bombing. Nevertheless, she knew the four girls who had been killed, and of course endured the pain and grief of the bombing's aftermath, along with the rest of her community. Although she was just barely out of her teens at the time, Kennedy had become a standout member of 16th Street Baptist Church's choir, often called upon to deliver solo performances in addition to singing with the choir, preparing the congregation for an inspiring sermon from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I first connected with Cleo Kennedy a little more than a decade ago, when I was a contributing writer for Backstreets.com. Thanks to my friend Dave Marsh, I already knew of Cleo's historical ties to the Civil Rights Movement and 16th Street Baptist Church. After hearing Wrecking Ball and "We Are Alive," I thought it would be great to give Cleo a chance to hear "We Are Alive" and share her reactions with our readers. Not surprisingly, Cleo found the track to be very moving and inspiring. "[It] really touched my heart," she told me. "We are still alive, after all that we have been through and all of the stuff that happened during that time. We are still alive; we're still here, and it took a lot of faith, a lot of determination, a lot of standing up... It took a lot for us to make it to this point... I was involved in the [Civil Rights] Movement and I did the whole nine yards. I went to jail, and I did it all in the course of fighting for freedom, and I don't regret anything that I did because had it not been for people doing what they did up until this point, we wouldn't be where we are now. And I don't feel like we’re totally where we should be anyway, but we're much further than where we would have been." (Click here to read my full archived 2012 Backstreets.com report.) Since that time, happily, my friendship with Cleo has grown, and I have gotten to learn so much more about her fascinating and inspirational life story. In the latter part of the 1960s, Kennedy's next-door neighbor, the legendary gospel singer Dorothy Love Coates (from whom Phil Spector and Darlene Love derived Darlene's stage-name, due to their mutual love of Coates' singing,) invited Cleo to join her group, Dorothy Love Coates & The Gospel Harmonettes. Cleo sang with the group through the early 1970s and recorded four albums with them: The Handwriting on the Wall , The Separation Line , 'Till My Change Comes , and The Winner . In the mid-1970s Cleo connected with another gospel legend, Reverend James Cleveland. He quickly made Kennedy a featured member of The James Cleveland Singers and later his Southern California Community Choir and L.A. Gospel Messengers groups. Cleveland also became a beloved mentor and friend to Cleo for the rest of his days, until his untimely death in 1991. Two decades after Cleveland died, gospel-music scholar Bob Marovich assembled and released the Grammy-nominated book/box-set The King of Gospel Music: The Life and Music of Reverend James Cleveland . Marovich interviewed Cleo Kennedy for the project, and she recalled lovingly how supportive Cleveland was when she got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the late 1970s. She had to move to L.A. for regular treatments at the UCLA Medical Center, and James Cleveland invited her to live with him and recuperate at his View Park home. "He brought me food on a tray just like he was a maid," Kennedy told Marovich. "He loved me and he treated me like a part of his family. I will never forget him for that." It also was through her work and association with James Cleveland that Cleo began to get offered gigs in the secular world of pop music. One of her earliest and most notable such jobs was singing the backing vocals on the opening and closing tracks of Ray Charles ' 1977 album True to Life : Charles' versions of "I Can See Clearly Now" and "Let It Be." Charles had heard Cleo singing on a James Cleveland recording, and specifically requested her for the recording session. As Cleo recently told me, "I was sitting in the waiting-room [of the recording studio] by myself, wondering where everybody else was and why they hadn't gotten there yet. I looked at the time and thought, 'They're supposed to be here by now, and there ain't nobody here but me.' Then, all of a sudden, Ray came out of this other room, saying, 'Are we ready yet?' I said, 'No, because the rest of them didn't come yet.' He said, 'There's no rest of them; it's just me and you, mama.' And I almost fainted. He said, 'I picked your voice out of the background [on the James Cleveland record,] and your voice was the one I wanted.' He recorded me singing soprano, then he recorded me singing alto, then he recorded me singing tenor, and then he put it all together." Cleo added to Bob Marovich in his interview with her, "There's no girls - it's all me!" Indeed, Cleo Kennedy may be one of the few singers - if not the only singer on the planet - who can lay claim to having been all of The Raelettes for a day. Both tracks were included on the 2021 box-set True Genius: The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection , and you also can hear them below: Cleo and other members of James Cleveland's groups also got to play singing peripheral characters in the original 1977 television adaptation of Roots (in a scene now available only on the Complete Original Series Blu-ray/DVD editions) and with James Brown in the 1980 Blues Brothers film. By the late 1970s, Cleo had found regular backup-vocalist work in the studio and/or on the road with popular secular artists like Graham Nash, Diana Ross, and Paul Williams. In fact, an interesting coincidental crossing of paths with her future employer, Bruce Springsteen, occurred in 1979 when she sang with Graham Nash's band during the series of MUSE "No Nukes" concerts at Madison Square Garden, where of course Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band also delivered their now-legendary performances. Both Cleo and Bruce appear, though not together, in the original 1980 No Nukes film. (An additional coincidence at those same "No Nukes" shows: Cleo's future 1992-93 Springsteen touring bandmate Bobby King sang with Ry Cooder's band during his "No Nukes" set. Bobby can't be found with Cleo and Bruce in the 1980 No Nukes film, but he can be heard on the Ry Cooder track "Little Sister" on the accompanying multi-artist No Nukes album, while Cleo can be heard there backing Graham Nash on "Cathedral," and of course Bruce can be heard there on his two tracks with the E Street Band and onstage guests Jackson Browne and Rosemary Butler. Cleo doesn't recall having any direct encounters with Bruce or Bobby King during the 1979 MUSE-concerts series.) In 1992, when Bruce Springsteen assembled a new band to tour behind his simultaneously released Human Touch and Lucky Town albums, Cleo became an invaluable member of such a great gospel-and-soul-infused group. I think that her solo spotlight on the epic outtake version of "Roll of the Dice" from Springsteen's MTV Plugged is definitely one of her all-time greatest moments. She doesn't kick into high gear until about nine minutes into an eleven-minutes-long performance, but WOW is it worth the wait! Cleo recently told me that one common trait that she believes that James Cleveland and Bruce Springsteen shared was that as bandleaders they cared deeply not just about their music, but also about their band-members. In the spring of 1993, Cleo's grandmother passed away, and she needed to take a temporary leave of absence from the tour. "I had to fly back home for the funeral and everything, and Bruce gave me an envelope with my plane-tickets in it, and put some money inside the envelope with the tickets. He said, 'If you need anything else, we're just a phone-call away. Honor your grandmother, take your time, and we'll see you when you come back.' And when I met them back on the tour, during my first show back [on May 9, 1993,] all through the show he kept yelling [off-mic, towards the backup-singers' riser] things like, 'Cleopatra, baby, we're so glad to have you back! Honey, we missed you!' He did that all through the show, and I will never forget him for doing that...telling me all that night how happy he was that I was back." Like James Cleveland, Cleo told me, "Bruce made us feel like we were a part of his family. He didn't make us feel like we were strangers. I remember one time we had finished a show, got back to the hotel, and they were having a wedding-reception in the lobby part. Bruce turned around to us all and said, 'Let's crash it!' I said to myself, 'Oh my God, he's not gonna do it,' and I started laughing because I knew he was gonna do it anyway. And of course he went up on the stage with that guitar and started singing. And those people went wild; it made their wedding reception what they wished it would be!" Cleo kept her struggles with MS relatively private, so not everyone in the 1992-93 touring organization was aware of it. At one point on the tour, however, she felt somewhat ill and didn't feel up to eating anything. "Bruce sent someone up to my room," Cleo told me, "who was to take me to get checked out at the local hospital." Cleo thought that wasn't necessary, but the person at her hotel-room door made it clear that he was expected to do what Springsteen had requested, so she complied. The hospital team determined that Cleo needed a humidifier. Cleo told me that in short order Springsteen purchased a humidifier for each and every band-member's hotel-room. "He was very considerate and very concerned like that," she said, "and just treated us like anybody would want to be treated. I will never forget him for that, and I would love to be up on the stage with him one more time for anything. I don't care if it's shortening-bread...I would be there with roller-skates on," she added with a laugh. In November 2019, Cleo's house sustained extensive damages in a fire. Fortunately neither Cleo nor anyone else was harmed physically in the fire, but she lost many of her most treasured personal mementoes, and rebuilding became extra-challenging for her once the COVID-19 pandemic began. I was honored to join with Bob Marovich, Dave Marsh, Chris Phillips, and many others in supporting a fully successful GoFundMe campaign that helped to provide Cleo with what she needed to rebuild. Cleo asked me to thank once again everyone involved and all donors for helping her in her time of need. "They don't know how they blessed my soul," she said. "I've been able to regain so much of what I've lost. With their help, I was able to get back everything that I really wanted. [The GoFundMe campaign] was a big, big blessing for me." Cleo, who continues to live in Birmingham, AL, turned 80 last spring, and her current church hosted a major birthday celebration of her life's ongoing and lasting musical, spiritual, and social-justice legacy. I was so happy and honored to be there personally to celebrate my friend's birthday with her family and other friends. And with some help from my pal Chris Phillips, I was able to provide her with a very special little birthday-gift package of Springsteen CDs and DVDs that included all of her officially released work with him to date, as well as other gospel-influenced music from Bruce's official catalog. It fully replaced and enhanced a similar set of CDs/DVDs that she had lost in the 2019 fire. I also got to make my first visits to many of the historical sites in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma that are tied to the Civil Rights Movement, including 16th Street Baptist Church and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It was a deeply moving and inspirational experience, of course, and one that continues to provide me with much-needed insight and hope during our current troubled days. And finally, I got to hear Cleo Kennedy sing once more, live and in person again. It had been almost thirty years since that last happened for me, and I am happy to report that she still can hit those beautiful high notes. (I've told her that if she ever does get to sing with Bruce Springsteen somewhere on stage once more, I intend to be "the first in line" to buy tickets.) She also continues to inspire, not just with her voice but also with how she's chosen consistently to live her life, remaining an extraordinarily positive force in the face of every obstacle that's ever stood or continues to stand in her way. She truly "lives it every day" and "keeps pushing 'til it's understood." And I think once more of what she told me back in 2012 after hearing "We Are Alive" for the first time: "We are still alive...we're still here, and it took a lot of faith, a lot of determination, a lot of standing up..." On this day especially, I am filled with gratitude for all of those freedom-fighters who are no longer with us physically, but whose legacy still stands with us, shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart. And I thank my friend and hero Cleo Kennedy, for standing up and continuing to do so, inspiring me and so many others to do the same.

August 14, 2024 While it's August and summer-vacation season is still in full swing along the Jersey Shore, The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University certainly ain't takin' it easy. Archives activity remains strong this month, with some post-summer Archives programming having been announced recently, as well. Speakin' of summer vacation, if you happen to find yourself on the Asbury Park boardwalk at any point this summer, you can check out the Archives' pop-up exhibit space and shop, located inside the Convention Hall complex at 1317 Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ. Officially dubbed The Springsteen Archives Asbury Park Outpost, it offers visitors a place to check out some items on rotating display from the Archives (with the current display focused on the 50th anniversary of The Stone Pony,) attend one of the various special events and programs planned for the space, and - of course - purchase some exclusive Archives merch, with profits benefiting the Archives. The Springsteen Archives Asbury Park Outpost opened in June, with plans to remain in operation all summer and through the end of the year. From now through the end of this month, you can visit the Outpost 11am-7pm Monday through Thursday, and 11am-8pm Friday through Sunday. After August, plans are in place for the Outpost to remain in operation through the rest of 2024, but on just five days each week - Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - with specific hours for each day to be announced later. If you can't visit the Outpost in person, the Archives' recently launched online store offers another opportunity to score some exclusive Archives merch. Click here to visit the online store. There also are two special book-signing events happening at the Outpost this month: On Saturday, August 17 beginning at 2pm, you can meet author/photographer Nicki Germaine and obtain a signed copy of her book Springsteen: Liberty Hall . Click here for more information. On Saturday, August 24 beginning at 1pm, you can meet author Nick Corasaniti and obtain a signed copy of his book I Don't Want to Go Home: The Oral History of The Stone Pony . Click here for more information. Corasaniti also has been added as a special additional author this month in the Archives' ongoing Conversations With Our Curator series, in which Archives curator Melissa Ziobro holds an online conversation with one or more authors, followed by an audience Q&A session. Registration to attend any of these online events (via Zoom) is free and open to the public. The conversation with Corasaniti will take place on Wednesday, August 28, beginning at 7pm ET. The Archives recently announced Conversations With Our Curator online events for September, October, and November, as well, featuring authors Kenneth Campbell & Kenneth Womack, Steven Hyden, and Letters To You contributor Caroline Madden. Click here for more information - including Zoom registration links - for all upcoming online Conversations With Our Curator events. And click here to view the Archives' Conversations with our Curator   YouTube playlist for all past conversations. Finally, some tickets still remain available for the Archives-hosted - and co-presented with the Spring-Nuts Facebook group - solo benefit concert by Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie , taking place at Monmouth University's Pollak Theatre on Saturday August 24 at 8pm. All tickets are general admission (individually seated) and cost only $25 each, with proceeds from the concert benefiting the Archives, Fulfill Monmouth & Ocean Counties , and TeachRock . Click here for more information, and to purchase tickets for the Adam Weiner solo benefit concert.

August 9, 2024 EDITOR'S NOTE: London-based journalist and Letters To You contributor Herpreet Grewal attended both of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's concerts on July 25 and 27 at London's Wembley Stadium, wrapping up their 2024 Tour's European leg, with the next North American leg of the tour scheduled to kick off next week in Pittsburgh, PA. We're pleased to present below Herpreet's reflections on both of London's shows, accompanied by the superb photography of   René van Diemen . Night 1 - 25 July, 2024 It’s a bit surreal going to a Bruce Springsteen show on a weekday work night. Usually I am queuing for days or combining a holiday with a tour stop. I got to Wembley Stadium twenty minutes before he took to the stage. Oddly, as I rushed through the turnstiles I bumped into a friend who was sitting in the exact same section as me, albeit ten rows apart. Halfway through the show, I saw him standing on the pitch and wondered how he had got there. He later told me he’d left the show to do the roll call for the second show's queue, and had to buy a second ticket to re-enter the gig after he was done! I was flabbergasted at the latest queue politics; apparently this has been the norm recently in the U.S., as well as in Europe. It made me even more glad to have a no-stress seat ticket. As soon as Bruce bellowed an enthusiastic greeting to London, he got right down to business, launching into "Lonesome Day." "Seeds," a dark tale - featured on Springsteen’s Live/1975-85 collection - of a homeless man looking for work and trying to care for his family, was next. The gig’s seamless and fiery start only built as the show went on, with Bruce’s full-throated affirmations of “London!!” in between "My Love Will Not Let You Down," "No Surrender," "Ghosts," "Letter to You," and "The Promised Land." But it was during "Hungry Heart" that crowd participation went up several notches, with the approximately 90,000-strong audience singing the entire first verse, leading Bruce to make several approving sounds. Performer and audience were in sync.  It was exactly the right moment for Bruce to take a spiritual temperature check in his preacher-like way. As the band segued into "Spirit in the Night," Bruce roared, “Can you feel the spirit? I want you to answer! Let me see your hands!” Then we got the existential and pensive chain of "Reason to Believe," "Atlantic City," "Youngstown" - as politically relevant today as they were decades ago when they were written - and then "Long Walk Home," which he said was a “prayer for my country." The mood became lighter and more party-like with "The E Street Shuffle," which spotlighted the differing drum and percussion talents of Max Weinberg and Anthony Almonte. This was perfectly followed by the most popular soul cover from the Only the Strong Survive album: "Nightshift." The two upbeat tracks led into a majestic "Racing in the Street," which had hundreds of people holding up their phones as torches while dusk started to fall, truly creating the peak enchanted moment of the show. "Last Man Standing" was next, preceded by the always touchingly told story of Bruce’s late former bandmate George Theiss. Many speak about how grief has been on Bruce’s mind recently, and no doubt it has been, since he lost his mother only this year, but he was also talking like this at shows ten years ago when dealing with the deaths of bandmates Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici. It’s a fact of life that you lose people as you age. The magic of Springsteen is always in embracing this lesson, even before these more explicit explorations of grief and death in his own life. As he says, death gives life a clarity and “grief is the price we pay for having loved well." Unlike the show in Dublin, though, his meditation on death was shorter, which made the show slightly less somber and more balanced but without lacking any of the depth. "Backstreets" and "Because the Night" were next. (I wondered if Patti Smith, who is also on tour at the moment, had been in London this weekend instead of last weekend, if she would have joined him on stage.) "She’s the One," "Wrecking Ball," and "The Rising" segued into "Badlands" in a powerhouse quartet of songs. The usual show-finishers such as "Thunder Road" followed, which also included an audience singalong of the entire first verse with Bruce cooing as it happened, softening him into the idealistic "Land of Hope and Dreams" and the communal jamboree of "Born to Run," "Bobby Jean," "Dancing in the Dark," "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," and "Twist and Shout." He brought the crowd back to earth (and mortality) with "I’ll See You In My Dreams," an uplifting paean (as is the rock ‘n’ roll way) to loss, with hope we will see our loved ones once again. As Bruce was left by himself on stage with his acoustic guitar to sing the bittersweet number, night had fallen and so had a hush, but peoples’ phone-torches were out again, lighting up Wembley like fireflies in the dark. There was definitely magic in the night, right until the end. Night 2 - 27 July, 2024 The last show of the European leg had more of a relaxed, post-working-week feel. Maybe Bruce was feeling that vibe as he came out and greeted the crowd. “ Hello, London! It’s Saturday night! ” he bellowed, before kicking off with "Lonesome Day," just like on Night 1. I was attending with a friend who was seeing Bruce for the first time, so it was certainly interesting to see some aspects of the show through the eyes of a more recent fan. My friend pointed to some of the band members as they came on stage at the start, asking if one of the women was Patti Scialfa. I said "No," and explained that she hasn’t been on this tour much. Bruce’s choice to play a double-whammy from the Darkness on the Edge of Town album, "Candy’s Room" and "Adam Raised A Cain," sent me into a frenzy. His guitar work on the latter was especially passionate and powerful. Those early songs are imprinted on the band. "Death To My Hometown" and "The Promised Land" were next, followed by another "Hungry Heart" with strong audience participation, but the timing and spontaneity were not as impeccable as the first night.  After "Darlington County," Bruce announced, “What better treat on a Saturday night than to have the entire E Street Band with Patti Scialfa," and then she appeared, almost like out of nowhere, wearing a sparkly black top and ready to sing "Tougher Than the Rest" with her husband. I turned to my friend to say what a surprise her appearance was; she hadn’t been onstage with the band for months. Her presence brought a tangible, heartfelt softness to the rendition, which they both performed standing face-to-face, almost touching, with the microphone stand between them. Some fans said she looked like she had missed him, and the tender hugs and kisses held this observation to be true. After the soulful performance, and with one more kiss and hug, she left the stage. Bruce launched into "Darkness on the Edge of Town," "Youngstown," and "Long Walk Home," a trio slightly different from the first night’s show, but still powerful and with the same political message. "Youngstown" spotlighted a fierce Nils guitar solo to screams and applause. I have to mention that I had been sitting in the deaf section, and I was amazed at the energy of the two women using sign language. They were almost as energetic as Bruce, as they took turns signing the intricate Springsteen lyrics. I’d never seen that at a show before. "The E Street Shuffle," "Nightshift," "Mary’s Place," "The River," "Last Man Standing," "Backstreets," "Because the Night," "She’s the One," "Wrecking Ball," "The Rising," "Badlands," and "Thunder Road" followed in the standard barnstorming way. Before he started to play "Last Man Standing," Bruce gave his usual rap about the nature of death and the meaning of life using the memory of late friend George Theiss, with whom he was in his first band, The Castiles. That band lasted for three years. "For teenagers, that’s pretty incredible,” Bruce noted, as he often does. Then came something not usually stated so explicitly, though clearly heartfelt and lived up to at every single show. “Now the E Street Band... We’ve been here for fifty fuckin’ years!” The crowd applauded, to which Springsteen quickly responded, “And we ain’t going to quit, either!”   A friend had told me "Jungleland" had been on the setlist for Thursday but was not played, so it was expected on the second night. During Saturday night, a core contingent of diehard fans in the pit started chanting for it and Bruce reportedly said, “Okay!" But it never came, and instead we got "Born in the U.S.A." in that slot. Springsteen was visibly more tired than Thursday night, and this was later confirmed by those close enough to see his face. (Perhaps having more than just one day off between shows, which has been the case for most of the 2024 touring schedule and seems to have had an overall positive impact, should be "the new normal" moving forward.) As a result, on Night 2 he played a somewhat shorter show and one less song than Night 1. It also was not quite as flowing and majestic, but still a great show with amazing surprises. And that "we ain't going to quit" moment was priceless. All photos by René van Diemen; used with permission. Connect with René on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter/X , and/or via email .

August 8, 2024 Last night, two weeks before he's scheduled to visit Philadelphia for his own two-show stand with the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen was in the City of Brotherly Love as a special surprise guest at Zach Bryan's final Philly show in 2024. Springsteen first appeared as a surprise guest at one of Bryan's concerts last March, in Brooklyn, NY, where they performed a live version of "Sandpaper," Bryan's then-unreleased song that he later issued as a studio version featuring Springsteen on his latest album just last month . This time around, Bryan and Springsteen performed together one of Springsteen's compositions: "Atlantic City," live at the Philadelphia Eagles' football stadium (with Bryan sporting an Eagles shirt) in South Philly, no less, not very far from where mobster Phillip "The Chicken Man" Testa was killed back in 1981, inspiring the song's opening lines. They then performed "Sandpaper" together, as they did together in Brooklyn last March. Later in the show, also just as he did last March, Springsteen returned to the stage to join Bryan, his band, and their other special guests - who last night were The Lumineers and Shane Gillis - for Bryan's standard show-closer "Revival," delivered to the Philly audience in an epic lotsa-solo-spotlights version which also was accompanied by fireworks. Fan-shot YouTube videos of "Atlantic City," "Sandpaper," and "Revival" are embedded below:

August 5, 2024 Yesterday TeachRock launched another surprise pop-up raffle for a pair of tickets to its special August 22 Thom Zimny-hosted Stories From The Road fundraising event in Asbury Park, NJ . And this time around, the pot is sweetened with two GA tix to see Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band perform on the Asbury Park beach at Sea.Hear.Now 2024 on September 15 , as well! The Stories From The Road tickets aren't just any old pair of tickets, either. The raffle winner will be seated at the table of the E Street Choir's own Curtis King, Jr. Curtis also will have some extra goodies on hand to present personally to the winner and their guest: two signed copies of Nicki Germaine's Springsteen: Liberty Hall book and a promise to have a video-chat with Curtis at a later date. Every $25 donation to TeachRock made between now and tomorrow, Tuesday August 6, at 11:59 a.m. ET will score you a chance to win this awesome prize package. And if you donate $100 or more at one time, every $20 of your donation scores you a chance to win. Click here to donate/enter , and here for your easy reference are all of the important details... Each donation is an opportunity to receive: 2 seated tickets for the Stories From the Road Event at the Asbury Lanes, August 22, 2024 2 GA @ Sea.Hear.Now Tickets for Sunday, September 15, 2024 2 signed Springsteen: Liberty Hall books by Nicki Germaine 1 Video call chat with Curtis King, Jr. Enter as often as you wish until 11:59 a.m. ET, Tuesday, August 6, 2024. Please note: This package does not include meet and greets or photo lines with any E Street Band Members. Winner will be notified sometime after 12:00 p.m. ET on August 6, 2024. Packages are non-transferable. Packages do not include parking. Must be 21 years old to attend. Click here to enter now , and good luck!

July 4, 2024 Now here's some MUCH more positive and uplifting Stevie Van Zandt-/Independence Day-related news! As per the official announcement , on August 22, 2024 in Asbury Park, NJ, there will be a VERY special benefit event for TeachRock . Here are all of the known details, directly from the official TeachRock announcement: In celebration of Independence Day, we have a special event announcement to share! Film director Thom Zimny will moderate TeachRock's 2024 marquee benefit event, showing never before seen videos of the E Street Band and discussing stories from the road with band members. All funds raised support TeachRock's programs. Stories From the Road, Main Event: Asbury Lanes, 7pm Pictures From the Road, Pre-event: Stone Pony, 4:30pm SPACE IS LIMITED. FOR TABLE RESERVATIONS AND SPONSORSHIP INFORMATION CONTACT MICHAEL-ANN HADERS, MICHAEL@TEACHROCK.ORG CLOSED TO PRESS. THIS WILL BE A PHONE-FREE EVENT, SECURITY BAGS WILL BE SUPPLIED UPON ARRIVAL. Tix are expensive, for sure, but if you and/or your group can afford it, this promises to be a very special evening indeed, with super-rare footage, beautiful photography, and personal memories shared directly by key E Street Band members... all in support of a great cause, of course. Here for your easy reference are the various ticket-purchase options and levels, including the benefits associated with each level, again directly from the official TeachRock announcement : $25,000 The First Song Sponsor Acknowledgment from the stage Logo placements on all promotional materials 6 Guests / private table 6 Guests - private Tour Photography Reception A Signed Pam Springsteen or Rob DeMartin Print 3 Personally Signed Nicki Germaine Springsteen: Liberty Hall Books Ask a Question to E Street Open Bar and Snacks for you and your guests $10,000 The Audible Sponsor Acknowledgment from the stage Logo placements on all promotional materials 4 Guests / private table 4 Guests - private Tour Photography Reception A Signed Pam Springsteen or Rob DeMartin Print 2 Personally Signed Nicki Germaine Springsteen: Liberty Hall Books Open Bar and Snacks for you and your guests $5,000 The Melody Sponsor Acknowledgment from the stage Logo placements on all promotional materials 2 Guests / private table 2 Guests - private Tour Photography Reception A Signed Pam Springsteen or Rob DeMartin Print 1 Personally Signed Nicki Germaine Springsteen: Liberty Hall Books Open Bar and Snacks for you and your guests $2,000 The Last Song Sponsor Acknowledgment from the stage Logo placements on all promotional materials 2 Guests / private table A Signed Pam Springsteen or Rob DeMartin Print 1 Personally Signed Nicki Germaine Springsteen: Liberty Hall Books Open Bar and Snacks for you and your guests $500 The Encore Supporter Logo placements on all promotional materials 1 Guest / Seated A Pam Springsteen or Rob DeMartin Photo Again, for all ticket-purchases, table-reservations, and sponsorship information, please email TeachRock's Michael-Ann Haders at this address: michael@teachrock.org [behind-the-scenes images from the 2024 tour's current European leg by Rob DeMartin; used with permission]

August 3, 2024 Jay Weinberg , currently drumming with Suicidal Tendencies , regularly posts on his official YouTube channel videos which are part of his "Live Drum Cam" series: professionally recorded videos of select performances that highlight the aural and visual perspectives of Jay powerfully pounding away behind the drum-kit. The latest entry, posted yesterday, is taken from the June 22, 2024 Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band concert in Barcelona, Spain, during which Jay temporarily took over his father Max's drums to perform "Radio Nowhere" with Bruce and the band. We've embedded the video above, so you can watch it right here if you wish. It's a great, rockin' segment of the show (including HORNS! ) that's professionally filmed and recorded from start to finish, and it's all capped off with some sweet, moving hugs and kisses for Jay from proud papa Max and "Uncle Bruce." Here's more on the video from Jay himself, as shared in the video's description section on his YouTube channel, along with complete production credits for the video: “Perhaps stating the obvious, I’ve seen ‪ @brucespringsteen‬  and the mighty E Street Band more than I have any other artist over the last 25 years…it’s got to be in the multiple hundreds of shows by now. And I can say with complete confidence — the dates I’ve seen of their current tour have been amongst my absolute favorite times seeing them. Every night is pure mastery in storytelling and rock and roll power; an emotional journey of music that’s inspiring and moving in every way. My wife and I have tried to catch as much of this tour as possible. A joy for me, personally, to finally share with her this huge part of my family’s and my history — especially to watch my Dad turn into a complete drumming weapon night after night. 🔥🥁🔥 It was a complete surprise to receive an invitation from The Boss himself to sit in for a song during the last show of their summer tour that we’d be able to see — in Barcelona, right before linking up with ‪ @suicidaltendencies ‬  for our summer tour. Out of all the songs I learned and played on tour with Bruce throughout 2009 — many of which drew from genres I had never really approached in my four years of drumming experience — ‘Radio Nowhere’ felt the most like a natural extension of the music I had gravitated towards as a teenager. To this day, this song holds a very special place in my heart. It was a thrill to revisit playing on E Street, 15 years later. I’m eternally grateful to Bruce, to my Dad, to everyone on and off this stage…a true family. For sharing this moment, and for the lifetime of memories. This is one I’ll never forget. Hope you enjoy it!” Video recorded by: Rob DeMartin, Pam Springsteen, and Chris Hilson Audio recorded by: John Cooper (& audio captured by GoPro HERO 12) Thumbnail photos: Rob DeMartin Special thank you to Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Dad, Jon Landau, George Travis, Rob DeMartin, Pam Springsteen, John Cooper, Matt Payne, Troy Milner, Kevin Buell, Chris Hilson, Mona Okada, and Sony. - ‪ @MixWaveOfficial ‬ : Jay Weinberg Virtual Instrument: https://www.mixwave.net/jayweinberg - Jay Weinberg Signature ‪ @SJCCustomDrums ‬ : https://www.sjcdrums.com/pages/jay-we ... - Jay Weinberg Signature ‪ @VaterPercussionUSA‬  908 Drumstick: https://www.vater.com/908 - Jay Weinberg Official Website: https://www.jayweinbergofficial.com - Jay Weinberg Official Webstore: https://www.jayweinbergofficial.com/shop

July 29, 2024 Happy Birthday, Patti Scialfa! Summer 2024 not only marks another birthday for her, but also the 40th anniversary of Patti joining the E Street Band, with her first official gig occurring exactly forty years and one month ago on June 29, 1984, the opening night of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour in St. Paul, Minnesota . To celebrate "Red"'s special day and extra-special anniversary this year, we're traveling even further back in time to 1976, to explore Patti's work at her first professional recording sessions, a set of sessions in which she also first happened to intersect with E Street. The 1980s was, of course, when Patti began performing and recording with rock-and-soul royalty, first with Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes at the beginning of the decade, and then later with David Johansen, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Buster Poindexter (David Johansen's alter ego,) The Rolling Stones, and finally Keith Richards on his 1988 Talk Is Cheap solo album. But back in 1976, her first year of professional recording work, she was singing on records by major figures in another genre: jazz fusion. So let's set the scene... It's late summer '76 in New York City. Patti's at Atlantic Recording Studios to sing on a track for the debut album by her friend Narada Michael Walden. She first met Walden (who in later decades would collaborate closely with Clarence Clemons on several of his solo projects) in Miami, while she was a student at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, and he's invited her to provide backing vocals, along with legendary bassist Will Lee (another friend and fellow Frost School of Music alum) and saxophonist/singer Norma Jean Bell of Frank Zappa/P-Funk/Chic fame, on the track "Delightful." Among the other musicians working on the track is a keyboardist by the name of David Sancious, who's quickly become a rising star in the jazz fusion world after his departure from Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band two years earlier. Click below to listen to "Delightful" from Narada Michael Walden's album Garden of Love Light , with Narada Michael Walden on lead vocal, acoustic piano, and drums; Raymond Gomez on guitar; Will Lee on bass and vocals; David Sancious on Fender Rhodes piano and organ; Norma Jean Bell on saxophone and vocals; Sammy Figueroa on congas; and Patti Scialfa (then credited on the album as "Patty Scalfa") on vocals: Sancious was so impressed with Scialfa's singing that he invited her to join his jazz fusion band Tone. Patti sang multi-tracked vocals on the opening track of David Sancious and Tone's "lost" 1976 album Dance of the Age of Enlightenment , "Overture - Wake Up (To a Brand New Day of Love)" with Sancious also on vocals, acoustic piano, organ, synthesizer, and guitar; former E Street Band drummer Ernest "Boom" Carter on drums and percussion; and Gerald "Gerry" Carboy on bass. Recorded at Nederland, Colorado's famous Caribou Ranch Recording Studio, the album finally received an official full-scale release just last summer, with a remastering process using the original master tapes (at last played back at proper speed, unlike the oft-bootlegged '76 promo-only release) and supervised by Sancious himself. Click here to order a copy of Dance of the Age of Enlightenment , which is currently available only in the compact-disc (CD) format. As 1976 drew to a close, Patti Scialfa received another invitation for session-work from her friend Narada Michael Walden. This time around, Walden was producing an album by famous free jazz and world fusion trumpeter Don Cherry (also the stepfather and father, respectively, of musicians Neneh Cherry and Eagle-Eye Cherry,) entitled Hear & Now . Patti sang with Cheryl Alexander and Phoenix Volaitis on the recording of Walden's composition "Surrender Rose." Also featured on the track, recorded in New York at Electric Lady Studios, were some other friends of Patti: Clifford "Cliff" Carter (who later became James Taylor's keyboardist) and Stan Samole from her Frost School of Music days, and her Chelsea/NYC neighbor Steve Jordan, who became a key production collaborator on Patti's 23rd Street Lullaby and Play It As It Lays solo albums in the 2000s, and most recently played drums on tour with The Rolling Stones. Click below to listen to "Surrender Rose" from Don Cherry's album Hear & Now , with Don Cherry on trumpet; Stan Samole on guitar; Clifford "Cliff" Carter on organ; Narada Michael Walden on acoustic/electric pianos and tom-toms; Steve Jordan on drums; Neil Jason on bass; Raphael Cruz on percussion; Cheryl Alexander, Phoenix Volaitis, and Patti Scialfa (then credited on the album as "Patty Scialfa") on vocals; and Lois Colin on harp: Finally, we simply can't celebrate both Patti's birthday and the 40th anniversary of her joining the E Street Band without revisiting a major highlight from her first tour with the band: that version of "Cover Me" from the Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live/1975-85 album, featuring Patti's very jazz-like interpolation of Martha Reeves & The Vandellas' classic "Nowhere to Run" as it begins: Happy Birthday, Ms. Patti Scialfa, and many, many more! And here's hoping that before this special birthday/anniversary year is over, we Scialfa fans finally will get to hear that fourth solo album, as promised onstage by your biggest fan last October: Bring it on, Birthday Girl!

July 26, 2024 Today officially marks our website's one-year anniversary, and it's been a very good year indeed. As of this writing, Letters To You has published a total of 176 articles, and we have had more than 26,000 unique visitors. More than 16,000 were from North America and more than 7,000 were from Europe, but we also have had significant numbers of visitors from other regions of the world, including our visitors from Aotearoa New Zealand, Argentina, Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, the Cayman Islands, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Peru, the Republic of the Philippines , Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, and Viet Nam. Of course we are thrilled and honored by this overwhelming response from Springsteen fans around the globe, and we thank each and every one of our loyal readers and visitors who made this first year such a successful one for Letters To You. We also hope that many, if not all, of our visitors will continue checking in with us on a regular basis, as we continue working to deliver to our fellow fans some of the best reporting and reflections on the work of Bruce Springsteen and his various collaborators...past, present, and future. As always, to help us accomplish our goals consistently, we appreciate whatever financial support our readers can give to us. We remain committed to providing access to all Letters To You content to everyone online, with no paywalls or tiered-access provisions in place. It does cost us some money, however, for us to make that happen regularly, especially since we also believe in paying our contributors (writers, photographers, etc.) as fairly as we can for their work. Therefore we rely greatly on any "tips" that readers can send us, as well as any appropriate advertising revenue that we can generate. So if you feel inspired to give us a one-year "birthday gift" at this time, please click here to "tip" us, and thank you very much for your suppor t.   We even have a small but appropriate special incentive for almost everyone who "tips" us between now and the end of this month, with thanks again to our friends at Rolling Stone Germany ... As we reported three months ago , their May 2024 issue celebrating Born in the U.S.A. 's fortieth anniversary came packaged with a world-exclusive 7" vinyl picture-sleeve reissue of the album's first single, which also was Bruce Springsteen's all-time-best-selling single: "Dancing In The Dark" b/w the album-outtake "Pink Cadillac." This 2024 vinyl reissue is available only with the May 2024 issue of Rolling Stone Germany . You can click here to order a copy. Or...  you could win one from us!  Since Rolling Stone Germany has once again been kind enough to provide us with a total of four additional copies of this special issue, we're going to again raffle off randomly a copy to each of four new, separate, and lucky winners, as we did last April. (Once you've won one of the copies, or if you already won one from us last April, you're automatically out of the running to win one of these four remaining copies.) And we've again made it super-easy to enter this special raffle. You automatically will be entered one time for each dollar you place in our "tip jar" between now and 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Donate $10 and get 10 chances to win, donate $25 and get 25 chances to win, etc. Again, please click here to "tip" us, and thanks again for all of your support. After the raffle-entry period closes next Wednesday, four lucky winners will be randomly selected from the pool of all eligible raffle entrants. Each lucky winner will receive one copy of Rolling Stone Germany 's May 2024 issue with the world-exclusive 7" vinyl picture-sleeve reissue of "Dancing In The Dark" b/w the album-outtake "Pink Cadillac," as pictured above. Should any eligible entrant's name happen to be selected randomly more than once, another and different name will be selected randomly in their stead, in order to ensure that there will be a total of four separate winners, each of them winning one copy of the raffle prize. Good luck to all entrants, and thanks again to our friends at Rolling Stone Germany ! It's so cool and appropriate to be able to give away to some of our supportive readers another four copies of this special issue celebrating four decades of Born in the U.S.A. 's existence, during the same summer in which we're celebrating the first anniversary of our own website having been "born in the U.S.A.," as well.

July 24, 2024 Today the full track listing was announced for Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin , the various-artists tribute album that will be released on September 20 to raise additional funds for Malin's continuing recovery efforts after suffering a rare spinal stroke last year. The announcement was accompanied by the official release of the album's second single, Billie Joe Armstrong's version of "Black Haired Girl." You can click here to order/stream "Black Haired Girl" and pre-order the album. The album's first single, Bleachers' version of "Prisoners of Paradise," the lyrics of which provided the inspiration for Silver Patron Saints ' title, was released last month. You can click here to order/stream "Prisoners of Paradise" and pre-order the album. Among the yet-to-be-released tracks announced today is Bruce Springsteen's version of "She Don't Love Me Now." Since detailed production/personnel details have yet to be shared publicly, we don't yet know whether Springsteen's version is a full-band version, as Malin's original version was, or if it is something closer to a solo, possibly acoustic version. Also among today's announced and yet-to-be-released tracks: a version of "Turn Up The Mains" featuring Stevie Van Zandt in collaboration with Joey C., the late, great soon-to-be-offically-inducted-Rock-and-Roll-Hall-of-Famer Wayne Kramer , Tom Morello, Alison Mosshart, and Mike Watt. Here is the complete track list for Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin : Bleachers - "Prisoners of Paradise" Counting Crows - "Oh Sheena" Bruce Springsteen - "She Don't Love Me Now" Billie Joe Armstrong - "Black Haired Girl" Dinosaur Jr. - "Brooklyn" Frank Turner - "About You" Alison Mosshart, Wayne Kramer, Tom Morello, Steven Van Zandt, Mike Watt, & Joey C. - "Turn Up The Mains" Lucinda Williams and Elvis Costello - "Room 13" The Wallflowers - "Don't Let Them Take You Down (Beautiful Day)" Spoon - "The Way We Used To Roll" Rocky O'Riordan - "Shane" Butch Walker - "In The Modern World" Susanna Hoffs - "High Lonesome" Graham Parker - "Greener Pastures" Alejandro Escovedo - "Meet Me At The End Of The World" The Hold Steady - "Death Star" Tommy Stinson and Ruby Stinson - "Riding On The Subway" The Walker Roaders - "St. Mark's Sunset" Ian Hunter - "Dead On" Danny Clinch featuring Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country - "Almost Grown" Aaron Lee Tasjan - "Shining Down" Low Cut Connie - "When You're Young" Willie Nile - "All The Way From Moscow" Rancid - "No Way Out" Gogol Bordello - "You Know It's Dark When Atheists Start To Pray" Agnostic Front - "God Is Dead" Murphy's Law - "Frankie" In a statement issued on his Facebook page today , Jesse Malin wrote, "This is one record that I’ll never ever forget. I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who made it happen, especially the artists that took the time to create their own versions of my songs, as well as Diane Gentile, Dave Bason and Glassnote Records for putting it all together. The fact that this record goes from Agnostic Front to Bruce Springsteen, from Rancid to Lucinda Williams, from Counting Crows to Murphy's Law and everything else in between makes me smile in the biggest way. Songs from Heart Attack - my first teenage band, D Generation, and my solo records, all in one place and done so creatively, is the greatest benefit and gift. Hearing these versions really got me through some of the toughest days. I know this record was made to help me financially during a hard time, but the emotional and spiritual boost is beyond anything that I’ve ever felt." Click here to pre-order your copy of Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin . All proceeds will benefit Jesse Malin's Sweet Relief Fund .

July 24, 2024 This week, while Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band wrap up the European leg of their 2024 tour with two London shows beginning tomorrow night, Thom Zimny, Springsteen's longtime film/video collaborator and archivist, also will be launching a mini-"tour" of his own in the same city. Zimny will be talkin' Springsteen and screening footage in London this coming Friday night, as well as in Asbury Park next month and in Toronto in September, where he (along with Springsteen, reportedly) will be premiering Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band on the big screen. Here are the details on all three upcoming Springsteen-themed evenings with Zimny: This Friday night's event at London's Prince Charles Cinema is entitled Springsteen On Screen: An Evening With Thom Zimny , and not surprisingly it is sold out. As promised on the Cinema's website, lucky ticket-holders will get to sit in on a "conversation with the man who directed Springsteen On Broadway , Western Stars and Letter to You , who pieced together the countless hours of archival footage to bring us Wings For Wheels , The Promise and The Ties that Bind , and who has had a large hand in shaping how we see Bruce Springsteen on our screens...But that’s not all; alongside our discussion exploring the long history Zimny and Springseen share, we’ll also be screening full live-performances of specific tracks from The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts , Live in Hyde Park , Springsteen on Broadway and more!!!" Next month, in Asbury Park, Zimny will host and moderate the TeachRock benefit event Stories From The Road . Click here to read Letters To You's previous, detailed report on this upcoming event. Zimny will screen what the event's official announcement is calling "never-before-seen footage of the E Street Band" and discussing stories from the road with TeachRock founder Stevie Van Zandt and his fellow E Street Band members Roy Bittan, Garry Tallent, and Max Weinberg. A few tickets still remain as of this writing, but only if you and/or your group/organization can afford to purchase one of the remaining $10,000 or $25,000 sponsor packages. And it's just been announced that in September, Zimny will present the world premiere of his latest film, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band , at The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF.) Click here to read Letters To You's previous report on this film, which is scheduled to begin streaming on Disney+/Hulu this October. A report in The Toronto Star claims that Springsteen also will be in attendance for the TIFF world-premiere of Road Diary . Further details regarding specific dates, showtimes, and tickets-availability won't be available to the general public before August 13, when the Festival's full schedule will be announced and presumably made available online at the official TIFF website .