Sunday, September 12, 2004
Oh yeah. I saw Springsteen
Weather was perfect at the Jersey shore today. Cloudless sky, 80 degrees, low humidity. Smart people were on the beach, or at the Glen Jones & X-Ray Burns radio program live from Asbury Park. Or both. Jonesy hosted a great party, large enthusiastic crowd, lots of kids & dogs. I'll have more to say about it when the pix are posted. The show ended perfectly, with Glen leading a contingent of swimmers into the warm & lovely small waves of the Atlantic Ocean, ignoring the red flag & being bull-horned out by a lifeguard riding a dune buggy. My calves are sunburned.
Oh yeah, & I saw Bruce Springsteen. We knew he was rehearsing Patti Scialfa (wife of a famous rock star) in Convention Hall for her gig there this week, he'd been spotted earlier & Glen was rightly miffed he hadn't stopped by to say hello - this was a Sunday in September & you'd think Bruce would be curious about who or what was drawing several hundred cheering people to the boardwalk in front of HoJo's. I noticed there were some cool cars parked on Ocean Ave. in front of the theater, so around 4 pm I decided to look at them. I walked up the street to the north side of the pier, made a right back on to a nearly deserted boardwalk, & there was Springsteen chatting with a couple of fans. I didn't realize it was him until I heard his voice, I thought he was taller. Glad I didn't have my camera or I would've been tempted to use it, or sorry because I might've had my picture taken with him - he let the others do it. He excused himself to return to the practice, & as I walked past him I just said, "Hi," Bruce said "Hi," & I kept on walking. That's when he gave me a once over look. I am a peculiar looking fellow, middle-aged, wearing shorts, a blue batik hawaiian style shirt & a Mets cap - just take my word on it. But I figured if I didn't have a card with my name & Boardwalk website url to thrust into his shirt pocket along with a strange remark like, "I'm older than you & I'm the best boardwalk poet in Jersey," what would be the point of acting uncool for nothing & saying "love your latest" when in fact I'm not sure what his latest is? Bruce's Corvette was parked in the enclosed driveway on the Pier, the very same place I saw The Doors being limo'd out in Summer 1967 & nobody paying much attention to them - Jimbo wasn't a drunken teen idol yet. Springsteen graduated high school in '67 & I'm just guessing he wasn't really interested in a band with no guitar hero at the microphone. But I sure was interested in the organist.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
Oh yeah, & I saw Bruce Springsteen. We knew he was rehearsing Patti Scialfa (wife of a famous rock star) in Convention Hall for her gig there this week, he'd been spotted earlier & Glen was rightly miffed he hadn't stopped by to say hello - this was a Sunday in September & you'd think Bruce would be curious about who or what was drawing several hundred cheering people to the boardwalk in front of HoJo's. I noticed there were some cool cars parked on Ocean Ave. in front of the theater, so around 4 pm I decided to look at them. I walked up the street to the north side of the pier, made a right back on to a nearly deserted boardwalk, & there was Springsteen chatting with a couple of fans. I didn't realize it was him until I heard his voice, I thought he was taller. Glad I didn't have my camera or I would've been tempted to use it, or sorry because I might've had my picture taken with him - he let the others do it. He excused himself to return to the practice, & as I walked past him I just said, "Hi," Bruce said "Hi," & I kept on walking. That's when he gave me a once over look. I am a peculiar looking fellow, middle-aged, wearing shorts, a blue batik hawaiian style shirt & a Mets cap - just take my word on it. But I figured if I didn't have a card with my name & Boardwalk website url to thrust into his shirt pocket along with a strange remark like, "I'm older than you & I'm the best boardwalk poet in Jersey," what would be the point of acting uncool for nothing & saying "love your latest" when in fact I'm not sure what his latest is? Bruce's Corvette was parked in the enclosed driveway on the Pier, the very same place I saw The Doors being limo'd out in Summer 1967 & nobody paying much attention to them - Jimbo wasn't a drunken teen idol yet. Springsteen graduated high school in '67 & I'm just guessing he wasn't really interested in a band with no guitar hero at the microphone. But I sure was interested in the organist.
