Friends News and Events

Like A Killer In The Sun

At first glance, the new Springsteen book by Italian author Leonardo Colombati might appear to be about lyrics. You'd be partially right, for in the middle of "Bruce Springsteen, Come Un Killer Sotto Il Sole," are 113 songs in both English and Italian. There's more going on here, however, and the first hint comes from Colombati's subtitle: "Il Grande Romanzo Americano (1972-2007)."

After writing two well-received novels, Colombati has now taken the concept of "novel" to a new level, organizing and analyzing Springsteen’s lyrics as chronological elements in a poetic narrative. One chapter, for instance, goes like this: This Hard Land, Born in the U.S.A., My Hometown, Working on the Highway, Car Wash, Downbound Train, Gave it a Name, Spare Parts and Cautious Man. Or how about Incident into New York City Serenade into Meeting Across The River into Jungleland. So far, the Italian press loves it, and we sincerely hope Colombati's book will one day be translated into English

"Bruce Springsteen, Come Un Killer Sotto Il Sole" will soon be available for reading at the Springsteen Special Collection and can be ordered online through http://www.sironieditore.it. Italian author Ennio Morricone wrote the preface.

Danny Federici

Pittsburgh, 11/14/07 Guy Aceto/Backstreets

Danny Federici, the E Street Band's organist and keyboard player since its inception, died April 17, 2008 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City after a three-year battle with melanoma.

"Danny and I worked together for 40 years--he was the most wonderfully fluid keyboard player and a pure natural musician. I loved him very much...we grew up together," Springsteen said in a statement posted on his Web site.

Born in Flemington, N.J., Federici first met Springsteen in the late 1960s in Asbury Park, where they often jammed at the Upstage Club. It was Federici, along with original E Street Band drummer Vini Lopez, who first invited Springsteen to join their band. Federici played in Springsteen bands including Child, Steel Mill, Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom and the Bruce Springsteen Band prior to the founding of The E Street Band.

"Bruce has been supportive throughout my life," Federici said in a recent interview with Backstreets. "I've had my ups and downs, and I've certainly given him a run for his money, and he's always been there for me."

The Federici family and the E Street family request that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund. The fund's website also includes this statement from Danny:

What people take for granted on a daily basis, among so many other things, is their skin. I spent my life, like many others, catching some rays, surfing, hanging out in the sun and it never bothered me until now. Who knew that something as simple as a proper sunscreen or keeping yourself covered up on a sunny day could one day save your life? Our culture looks at a nice tan as a sign of luxury. We spend time in tanning booths when we can't go to the beach or lay by the pool. It's time to think again. Especially if you're fair skined, have freckles, or light eyes. Be aware of the dangers, take precaution, and have yourself checked out regularly by a dermatologist from head to toe. It could absolutely make the difference in your life.

All of us involved with The Friends of The Bruce Springsteen Special Collection extend our deepest sympathies to Danny's family, friends, bandmates, and blood brothers.

-- compiled from brucespringsteen.net, Backstreets, and news reports

An Early Photo Classic In Print Once Again

Back in the day, before professional photographers even dreamed of Bruce Springsteen coffee table books, there were fan photographers hanging out in Asbury Park who knew what they were seeing through their viewfinders was the stuff of history. One was Chuck Yopp, whose instincts led him to publish Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., A Look At The Local Scene in 1983. Subtitled The Bruce Springsteen Photo Discovery, Yopp's book featured the work of 24 photographers whose shots, including his own, made up an indispensable record of Bruce on the Shore from 1973 through early 1983.

Now, after a 25 year hiatus, Yopp is back with a revised edition, available in a choice of covers--one drawn by super fan Art Masciocchi, the other featuring a Billy Smith photograph. Every shot in Greetings was taken, of course, before 5,600 d.p.i scanners made possible some of the most beautiful photography books imaginable, so the photos have to them the feel of a long lost and much welcomed documentary. The book also contains one of our favorite Springsteen photos of all time--taken in 1958 as Bruce's extended family gathered around the Thanksgiving table.

Both issues will soon be available for reading at the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection, and for purchase now through greetingsfromasburyparknj.org and Backstreets.

David Corio / Foryoubruce.com Wembley Arena, May 29, 1981

This One's For You

First, probably, you'll look for the names of friends. Then spend a few hours with the wonderful photographs. Finally, you'll delve into the hundreds of fan stories and it is at that point when the recently published "For You" reveals its greatest pleasures.

Compiled by Lawrence Kirsch, these original stories come as close as we have between hard covers to seeing three and a half decades of Springsteenmania through the eyes of the beholders. You'll soon be able to read "For You" at the Springsteen Special Collection. The limited edition is available at both backstreets.com and foryoubruce.com. Perfect for holiday giving.

On a Cold Day in Amherst

The broad details are long known: a few days before the 1973 Spring Carnival at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the concert headliner, the Elvin Bishop Group, broke up, and the concert committee hastily brought in a little known replacement group to open the show. What hasn't been widely known (or more correctly, SEEN) are photos of Bruce and the guys, playing their hearts out at 1:15 on a rainy afternoon as inattentive collegians wandered by the stage. The photos are in the Summer 2007 issue of the UMass Amherst alumni magazine, recently donated to the Special Collection by George Francy of East Brunswick, NJ. Credit for the photography (and for keeping his negatives!) goes to Amherst grad Jim Laford, class of 1976. (Note: the correct concert date is May 5, 1973. On June 5, the E Street Band was in New Haven, CN., performing at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum).

Tales of the Working Man

Hot on the market from Chrome Dream films is "Bruce Springsteen Under Review 1978-1982, Tales of The Working Man," an 81-minute DVD focusing on the incredibly productive period during which Springsteen released Darkness On The Edge of Town, The River, and Nebraska. The film includes obscure footage, seldom seen photographs, and critical analyses from Bruce biographers June Skinner Sayers and Eric Alterman, early E Street drummer Vini Lopez, former Rolling Stone editor Anthony DeCurtis, and, among others, Backstreets editor (and Friends of the Springsteen Special Collection president) Christopher Phillips. There's another Special Collection connection as well: the producers obtained 32 reviews and interview articles from us, many of which appear in the film.

Double Dose Of Luck

Photo © Jim Marchese, to be displayed at Proud Galleries starting Oct. 25

If your travel plans take you to the UK this fall, plan to check out two Springsteen photo shows which promise to be nothing short of fabulous. Frank Stefanko's "Swamps of Jersey" opens Sept. 29 at Snap Galleries in Birmingham, featuring a large collection of Springsteen photographs along with others of Southside Johnny and Patti Smith. Stefanko, who shot the Darkness and River album covers, is including Devils & Dust-era photos taken at Bruce's farm in Colt's Neck in the exhibition, which runs through Dec. 8.

Proud Galleries launches "Bruce Springsteen-The Boss Revealed" on Oct. 25 in London, showing rare and unseen photographs by Lynn Goldsmith, Debra L. Rothenberg, Terry O'Neil, Steve Rapport, Barry Plumber, Adrian Boot and Jim Marchese. That's a world-class lineup of photographers who have worked closely with Springsteen over the last 30 years. The exhibit ends Dec. 2.

If you can't make it to the UK, not to worry. The catalogue for Stefanko's exhibit and press material from Proud Galleries will be available for review at the Special Collection later this fall.

For The Love Of Bruce And Crinkly Paper ...

Journalist and webmaster Marty Weil is a zealous Springsteen fan whose other interests include ephemera, which accounts for his heavily visited blog devoted to the love of old paper.

Weil recently brought these two passions together in a web interview with Christopher Phillips, editor and publisher of Backstreets magazine, webmaster of Backstreets.com and president of the Friends of the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection, in which Phillips discusses the first five-and-a-half years of the Special Collection and our plans for the future. Read all about it at http://ephemera.typepad.com/ephemera/2007/07/christopher-phi.html.

Hot In Italy!

"Live in Dublin" entered the Billboard 200 at #23, and reviews across North American have been great, but once again, the excitement level in Europe seems to be at, well, another level. One sterling example is the June 2007 issue of the great Italian magazine Buscadero, which found a way to get both Bruce and Steven on the cover. Thanks to Francesco Magni, a copy will be available for reading soon at the Springsteen Special Collection.

Tougher Than The Rest

In the foreword to "Tougher Than The Rest: 100 Best Bruce Springsteen Songs," Backstreets editor (and Friends president) Christopher Phillips writes that author June Skinner Sawyers "is just asking for trouble. Compiling a list of the 'best' Bruce Springsteen songs is tricky business, as you know if you've ever compiled a Springsteen mix to try to turn on a friend, or just drawn up a "High Fidelity"-style list of your own."

True, true. Sawyers, however, accepts the challenge and has given us a synthesis of history, anecdotes, and interpretation to go along with 100 good reads. Make that 160, for after going through her rendition of 100 best, Sawyers adds 60 more. The book, recently published by Omnibus Press, is written with the fine attention to detail that characterized the indispensible "Racing In The Street: The Bruce Springsteen Reader," which Sawyers edited in 2004.

40 Great Rarities

Among the newest arrivals at the Springsteen Special Collection is a UK magazine destined to become a "must read" for serious collectors of Bruce records. The cover story for the November 2006 edition of Record Collector is entitled "Top 40 Worldwide Bruce Springsteen Rarities" and is a treasure trove for anyone who is passionate about collectible Bruce records including foreign-issue 45s, picture discs and promotional releases.

Compiled by international collectors and drawing heavily on information from the Lost In The Flood web site, the article features what are arguably the 40 rarest official worldwide releases on vinyl and compact disc, spanning Bruce's entire recording career. Estimated (and purely subjective) values are listed in UK Pounds Sterling for each record. The article also includes photos of most of the discs, some of which have never appeared previously in print.

The issue is Record Collector's first in 17 years to contain a Springsteen discography-related article and is the first full cover treatment for Bruce by the respected UK publication.

Dynamic Finish To Authors Series

Put yourself, for a second, behind the lens of Eric Meola's camera.

For weeks, you've given serious thought to the look you wanted to capture during the critical Born To Run photo shoot with Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons. Knowing that Springsteen's entire career is on the line with this record, you decide to forego color for the contrasts and midtones of black and white, hoping for something that is at the same time classic yet modern, innocent and street smart.

Then, for 180 minutes, you shoot. And shoot. And shoot--more than 700 images in all, and as you work, you realize that Bruce and Clarence have given even more thought than you'd realized to what they wanted out of the session. They've come dressed in black and white to match the film; they've brought props, right down to the Elvis button on Bruce's jacket, and a transistor radio that, according to Meola, Bruce still has. And as the session unfolds, you, the photographer, come to realize that Bruce, the subject, understands that record cover albums are "heard" even before the music.

Chris Phillips, Dave Marsh, Eric Meola and Daniel Wolff converse during the second event of the Friends' Author Series at the Asbury Park Public Library

That's the way Meola recalled his 1975 Born To Run photo session for an enthralled audience at the Asbury Park Public Library Oct. 14, capping the final session in the Friends of the Bruce Springsteen Collection's fall author series that also featured authors Dave Marsh ("Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968-2005") and Daniel Wolff, who wrote both the introduction to Meola's photo book "Born To Run: The Unseen Photos," and his own history masterpiece "Fourth of July, Asbury Park."

After writing trail-blazing Springsteen classics "Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story" and "Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s," Marsh told the Oct. 14 audience he hadn't intended to add a third book to the series, but was challenged to capture the on-stage legacy of "the greatest live performer of our lifetime."

According to Wolff, Springsteen's rise from the Asbury clubs to international super-stardom was in part the result of conditions within Asbury Park, especially low rents during the late 1960s and early 1970s, which enabled musicians and club owners to flourish. Also factored in was Asbury's troubled racial history: the Born to Run cover, Wolff said, served to demonstrate that whites and blacks could get along, be friends, and help bring about a better world.

Meola added significant chapters to the Springsteen story, above and beyond the details of the 1975 Born To Run session. The photographer said he first proposed Springsteen for the cover of Time magazine more than a year before the famous Oct. 27, 1975 issue, but was vetoed by a Time editor put off by repetitive lyrics in Springsteen's "New York City Serenade." Furthermore, he said the eventual photo used on the cover of Born To Run wasn't Springsteen's first choice; Springsteen favored a photo with dramatic shadows cast by a fire escape.

More than 170 visitors attended the book discussions and signings at the Library, furthering the goal of Backstreets and the Friends to provide a year-around destination in Asbury Park for fans, researchers, journalists and scholars interested in Springsteen's cultural legacy.

Photo by Mike Black
All the books discussed during the fall series are available for purchase at Backstreets

Santelli Pulls Out Some E Street Nuggets

Imagine...Bruce Springsteen and the Jersey Jukes?

Coulda been. Before christening themselves the E Street Band, Springsteen and his early 1970s Asbury Park cohorts considered other names, Jersey Jukes among them. That, according to author Robert Santelli, was well before Southside Johnny laid claim to "Jukes." But eventually, by winnowing out the comical suggestions and a few others of questionable taste, the band that would grow into the quintessential American rock and roll band became the "E Street Band."

Selecting from a treasure trove of stories in his new book "Greetings from E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band," Santelli kicked off the fall authors series at the Asbury Park Public Library by describing Springsteen's career with the E Street Band as an event of unparalleled cultural significance in New Jersey, and predicted that the band has major musical pinnacles left to achieve.

The authors series is sponsored by the Friends of the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection. The series continues on Oct. 14 with a joint appearance at the Library by "Bruce Springsteen On Tour: 1968-2005", author Dave Marsh, photographer and author of "Born To Run: The Unseen Photos" Eric Meola, and "4th of July Asbury Park" author Daniel Wolff, who wrote the introduction to Meola's book. The Oct. 14 event is completely reserved.

Santelli told a crowd of more than 90 that he wrote "Greetings From E Street" to keep in balance the individual and collective accomplishments of the band. The book, published by Chronicle Books, is now available from Backstreets and at bookstores.

Photo by Mike Black

Santelli, Meola, Marsh To Discuss, Sign Bruce Books At Asbury Park's Library

The Friends of the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection are pleased to announce that authors Robert Santelli and Dave Marsh and photographer Eric Meola, whose new books on Bruce Springsteen are among the most highly anticipated music publications of the year, will participate in an authors series this fall at the Asbury Park Public Library.

Santelli will discuss and sign "Greetings from E Street" at 2 p.m. Sunday Oct. 1. Published by Chronicle Books, "Greetings from E Street" follows the E Street Band from the early days in Asbury Park clubs to stardom. In an illustrated interactive format, it contains over 200 photos, documents, handwritten notes, and souvenirs including removable facsimiles of E Street memorabilia.

Meola and Marsh will share a program at 1 p.m. Saturday Oct. 14. Meola will discuss and sign "Born To Run: The Unseen Photos," published by Insight Editions. The book presents over 100 black-and-white photographs taken by Meola during a two hour session in 1975 that produced the iconic Born To Run album cover, capturing Springsteen and E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons at a turning point in Springsteen's career.

Joining Meola will be author and historian Daniel Wolff, who wrote the book's introduction as well as the highly acclaimed "4th of July, Asbury Park."

Marsh will discuss and sign "Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968-2005," the first-ever tour-by-tour retrospective of one of America's greatest live performers. Published by Bloomsbury Publishing, the book includes photos from Springsteen's personal collection plus tour artifacts and memorabilia. The book was packaged by Sandra Choron, who worked as Springsteen's art director for almost two decades and has been an unofficial archivist of his photographic images.

Seating for both events is limited. Reservations are strongly advised and can be made by emailing springsteencoll@yahoo.com.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection, the authors series is open to the public. Copies of "Greetings from E Street" the hardback edition of "Born To Run: The Unseen Photos," "Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968-2005," and "4th of July, Asbury Park" will be available for purchase at the Library on the day of the author's appearance. A special limited edition of Meola's book, including a signed photograph, will be published in November.

The Asbury Park Public Library is located at 500 First Avenue in Asbury Park.

Santelli, a former music critic for the Asbury Park Press, has written extensively about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band since the early 1970s. He is currently the Artistic Director of the Experience Music Project in Seattle, has taught about popular music at Monmouth University and Rutgers University, and has served as education director at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. He is the author of nearly a dozen books on American popular music and a frequent contributor to numerous music magazines, including Rolling Stone and Backstreets. He also worked with E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg on his book, "The Big Beat," and with Bruce Springsteen on his book, "Songs."

Meola is a self taught photographer whose prints hang in museums including the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, and the George Eastman House. He has photographed three Time covers, and his work has appeared in Esquire, Life, Travel and Leisure and other prestigious magazines. All of Meola's royalties from the sales of this book are being donated to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey which is the largest source of donated food in the state (www.njfoodbank.org).

Marsh is one of rock's best-known critics. He was a founding editor of Creem, and worked for Rolling Stone as associate editor from 1975-1990. He is the author of numerous books, including three previously on Springsteen: "Born To Run," "Glory Days," and "Bruce Springsteen: Two Hearts: The Definitive Biography, 1972-2003." His articles have been syndicated in over 200 newspapers, and appear regularly in major journals from Playboy to TV Guide.

Wolff is the author of "Fourth of July, Asbury Park" and the award-winning "You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke." His collaborations with photographer Ernest C. Withers include "The Memphis Blues Again" (2001) and "Negro League Baseball" (2005). He was nominated for a 2003 Grammy, and his journalism has appeared in Vogue, The Nation, and Doubletake, among others.

With over 4,500 publications, The Bruce Springsteen Special Collection is the world's largest publicly accessible collection of books, magazines and other printed works covering Springsteen's life and career. The Collection is housed at the Asbury Park Public Library.

Other Friends News Stories

Out in the Street For The Seeger Sessions
Good Golly Miss Molly!
4000th Donation Fills a Historic Gap in the Collections
The Collection on The New York Times website
When Bruce Dropped in on Suicide
BTR Reading List
Streetfighting Man
Did You Know?

Out In The Street For The Seeger Sessions

The cosmic alignment of Bruce Springsteen recording Pete Seeger inspired songs is a major event in American music, one in which Bruce celebrates not only Seeger's great devotion to traditional music but also to a style of musical radicalism that led to Seeger being blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee, banned from performing on network television, and sentenced to one year for contempt of Congress (later overturned).

The media reaction to The Seeger Sessions will be intriguing, and in that light we'd like to ask you to go out in the street on behalf of the Springsteen Special Collection and help us fully document how the new album and tour are received by the media, be it good, bad, or ugly.

There are three ways you can help:

(1) Donate magazines which cover The Seeger Sessions We're especially interested in album and tour reviews, critical commentaries and analysis, editorials, and interviews.

(2) Notify us of interesting The Seeger Sessions articles on the internet. Printed copies of major internet articles comprise a rapidly growing segment of the Special Collection, and we're expecting to see many new articles in the coming weeks.

(3) Someday, in the not too distant future, we plan to begin accepting newspaper articles into the Special Collection. We're not quite ready, but it would be great if you could save Seeger Session newspaper articles for the day when we can begin accepting them.

When you find Seeger Session articles in magazines, please email us the name and date of the publication to us at at pbjcrane@erols.com. We'll let you know if the publication has already been donated, or if it is still needed, and where to send the magazine. When you find interesting internet articles, send the link to pbjcrane@erols.com and we'll take it from there. If you are a first-time donor of published materials to the Collection, your name and hometown will be listed on the donor page on the Special Collection website.

Friends of the Special Collection did a great job of obtaining and sending to the Special Collection significant coverage of Devils & Dust, and that experience may help you while you're out in the street. Some of the publications you may want to check, based on their recent coverage of Bruce's albums and tours, include:

In the UK- MOJO, Q, New Musical Express, The Observer Music Magazine, Word and Uncut
In Italy- Mucchio Selvaggio, Buscadero, JAM, Maxim and Rockstar
In Germany-- Musikexpress, Stereoplay and Goodtimes
In Ireland- Hot Press
In Finland- Plussa
In Brazil- Shopping & DVD Music
In Canada- Voir
In France- Rock & Folk
In Japan- Rockin' On
In the US, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain- Rolling Stone
In the US- Newsweek, Time, Dirty Linen, Entertainment Weekly, The Nation, Harp, and Paste.

This is by no means a complete list, so keep your eyes open for articles in additional publications.

Good Golly Miss Molly!

Make room on your bookshelf! "Real World, sulle strade di Bruce Springsteen" is among the most spectacularly photographed Springsteen books thus far. Recently published in Rome by Arcana, this 304-page softcover gem was written by veteran author Ermanno Labianca and so beautifully illustrated by photographer Giovanni Canitano during The Rising and Devils & Dust tours that even those who can't read a word of Italian will love this edition. The Springsteen Special Collection's copy will be available for reading at the Asbury Park Public Library by early April. To order a copy for yourself, contact our friends at the Point Blank fanzine at :
http://www.buffalomail.com/info_bruce_novedades.asp

4000^th Donation Fills a Historic Gap in the Collections

Down through the years, very little has been written about the Sept. 20, 1975 show in tiny Darby Gym on the Grinnell, IA, campus. But that changed in a major way recently when The Grinnell Magazine, a quarterly for alumni, faculty, students and friends of the College, published "The East Street Shuffle, 30 Years After the 'Springsteen Invasion'" as the cover story for its Fall 2005 issue. The issue, donated to the Springsteen Special Collection by editor Jacqueline Hartling Stolze, who also wrote the cover article, is the 4,000th publication to join the Springsteen Special Collection....

Go to the Collection site's News section for the rest of the story

The Collection on The New York Times website

As part of their Born To Run anniversary coverage, The New York Times' website featured a video about the Collection entitled "The Archive." The video was produced by Craig Duff and Erik Olsen and linked from the Arts section of The Times.

When Bruce Dropped in on Suicide

Since May 11, 2005, Bruce has ended shows on the Devils & Dust tour with a pump organ version of "Dream Baby Dream," a hypnotic single released in 1979 by the New Wave band Suicide. An article recently discovered in the Springsteen Special Collection takes the story a step further. In early 1980, while recording in New York's Power Station, Bruce dropped by the studio where Ric Ocasek of the Cars was producing an album for Suicide.

Alan Vega, the vocalist on "Dream Baby Dream," told Rolling Stone (March 20, 1980) that Bruce liked Suicide's new tracks. "Bruce knows street soul when he hears it," Vega said. "This is a real boardwalk album."

BTR Reading List

Among the hundreds of Born To Run-era articles over the years, a true stand-out for anyone wanting to plunge back into the emotions of 1975 is "The Runaway American Dream," published in the November 2005 issue of Uncut magazine from the UK and on newsstands now.  The article traces the making of Born To Run with revealing discussions of the doubts and despair that surrounded the epic recording sessions.  As a companion, we recommend Uncut's December 2000, reexamination of the legendary Hammersmith Odeon concert.  Eyewitness interviews with UK reporters who were there come down fairly heavily on the side of "hype versus reality," but the photos alone make this issue worth reading (which, of course, you can do at the Asbury Park Public Library.)

For more Friends news, see Previous News Stories.

Questions/comments about the Friends? Contact Bob Crane
Questions/comments about the website? Contact Anne Noss

Last modified: May 5, 08

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