Today is the 15th anniversary of the first show that I considered, "The Best Concert I Ever Saw". While I guess the fact that it was 15 years ago makes me feel a little old, I am comforted by the fact that the tshirt still fits and it was only a bit over a month ago that I saw the latest, "Best Concert..." In fact, I wore the tshirt from 1993 to the Count Basie last month.
June 24, 1993 - Bruce Springsteen finished his 1992-93 tour with two shows in the US after an extended run in Europe. The first of the two was a benefit for World Hunger Year and The Community FoodBank and would be held at (still called) the Brendan Byrne Arena. Two nights later, Bruce would finish the tour at Madison Square Garden and in between, he would play the last Letterman on NBC. I was 19 years old, had recently finished my first year of college and was set to work at the JCC camp in Flanders. I don't think camp had started yet, but I was also playing baseball in the Essex County league that summer also.
I was hanging out with a lot of my high school friends in the beginning of the summer, and went to the show with Anna Scalora. This was well before the days of having "Bruce friends" and believe it or not, I was kinda scrambling to find someone to go with. Everyone else that I knew at the time that liked Bruce already had a ticket to the show. Needless to say, at the time, I didn't know that many Bruce fans.
I sat behind the stage...even early on in my Bruce concert career, I loved sitting behind the stage to see the interaction with the band. Also keep in mind, this was before the internet, and tracking set lists, so I had no clue what to expect. The show opened with Bruce and his back up singers trading vocals on I Ain't Got No Home, a Woody Guthrie song. I had never heard it before, but it was great. Then Bruce did an acoustic set, Seeds, Adam Raised A Cain, and a song that I had never even heard of before, This Hard Land, which he played for Steven.
The band then joined Bruce on stage and launched in to Better Days. Bruce had opened with this when I saw my first show and from the first minute, even though I was sitting as far away as I could possibly get, I was hooked. When he sang the line..."and it feels like I'm coming home," I thought the roof was coming off of the arena.
The other highlight of the first set (there were still intermissions at Bruce shows back then) was Leap of Faith. When Bruce jumped in to the crowd, someone stole one of his boots. He came back on stage minus a shoe! The woman with the shoe eventually was allowed on stage to give it back to Bruce. A truly hysterical moment.
The second set opened with Bruce on the acoustic again, this time joined by Roy for Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?. The acoustic songs, in hindsight, were a precursor to Bruce's next tour. The second set just rocked thereafter. I listened to the bootleg of this set probably 1000 times and it never gets old. Because The Night, Brilliant Disguise (with Bruce and Patti dancing together at the end), Human Touch, The River, Who'll Stop The Rain, Souls of the Departed, Living Proof (still one of my favorites), Born in the USA, and Light of Day. WOW. And we really haven't hit any of the highlights yet. While it might look like a pedestrian set list on paper, at the time, I was completely blown away.
Then the encores started. Bruce brought out his friend Joe Ely to sing his song Settle for Love, which is a great country rocker. After that, Little Steven came out for Glory Days. Sitting behind the stage, I noticed that after Glory Days, Steven sat down on the drum riser...he didn't leave the stage. The other time I saw Steven play with Bruce on this tour, he played one song and left. This was getting interesting. Bruce then played an acoustic Thunder Road. He then invited out Southside Johnny and the Miami Horns. They went right in to a great version of It's Been A Long Time. The song was relatively new at that point, and the three friends, Bruce, Steven, and Johnny were having a great time recreating what they had recently recorded.
After It's Been A Long Time, Southside left the stage and Bruce walked around flashing ten fingers at the band. I thought he was saying "Stay" to Southside, but he was saying "Ten" to the band...as in 10th Avenue Freeze Out. The Miami Horns launched in to their parts...and Bruce was cooking. When they got to the bridge, Bruce looked backstage and started waving his arm. As he sang the line, "Well they made that change uptown and The Big Man joined the band" Clarence came running on to the stage and hit his solo right on cue. I thought the building was going to explode it was so loud. Having never seen the E Street Band, this was amazing. Clarence stayed on stage for the next song, which Bruce introduced as follows, "Can't have The Big Man here and not do this one...it's the Jersey set." With that, he counted off "1-2" and they launched in to Born To Run. Clarence was having a bit of trouble with his mic, so for his solo, Bruce took his mic and put it inside Clarence's sax so everyone could hear the solo. This was just amazing.
Bruce then quieted it down a bit with My Beautiful Reward, which gave us a chance to catch our breath a bit and followed it up with Old Dusty Road, again with Joe Ely and a future E Street Band member, Soozie Tyrell. little Steven, Southside and The Miami Horns then came back out for Havin' A Party, which was followed by Jersey Girl, with a guest appearance from Mighty Max Weinberg. They closed the show with Southside, The Miami Horns, and Little Steven joining Bruce for It's All Right...and it was.
You know an experience is truly great when you look back 15 years and you can still see the images in your head...and they give you goosebumps. I really consider myself a lucky person because I have a lot of those moments to look back on,...and I know...many more to come.
"It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive..."
JN
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
RIP George Carlin
In the past few weeks, we have lost three giants: Bo Diddley, Tim Russert, and now, George Carlin. Bo was one of the founding father's of Rock N Roll and the creator the Bo Diddley beat. With Tim Russert's passing, we immediately became less informed as he helped us shape our opinions, never inflicting his agenda. And of course, he was a big Bruce fan. With Carlin, the world is less funny today, and also less honest.
The following appeared in today's NY Times and is posted here without permission. I thought it was worth sharing.
Op-Ed Contributor
Dying Is Hard. Comedy Is Harder.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/opinion/24seinfeld.html
By JERRY SEINFELD
Published: June 24, 2008
THE honest truth is, for a comedian, even death is just a premise to make jokes about. I know this because I was on the phone with George Carlin nine days ago and we were making some death jokes. We were talking about Tim Russert and Bo Diddley and George said: “I feel safe for a while. There will probably be a break before they come after the next one. I always like to fly on an airline right after they’ve had a crash. It improves your odds.”
I called him to compliment him on his most recent special on HBO. Seventy years old and he cranks out another hour of great new stuff. He was in a hotel room in Las Vegas getting ready for his show. He was a monster.
You could certainly say that George downright invented modern American stand-up comedy in many ways. Every comedian does a little George. I couldn’t even count the number of times I’ve been standing around with some comedians and someone talks about some idea for a joke and another comedian would say, “Carlin does it.” I’ve heard it my whole career: “Carlin does it,” “Carlin already did it,” “Carlin did it eight years ago.”
And he didn’t just “do” it. He worked over an idea like a diamond cutter with facets and angles and refractions of light. He made you sorry you ever thought you wanted to be a comedian. He was like a train hobo with a chicken bone. When he was done there was nothing left for anybody.
But his brilliance fathered dozens of great comedians. I personally never cared about “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” or “FM & AM.” To me, everything he did just had this gleaming wonderful precision and originality.
I became obsessed with him in the ’60s. As a kid it seemed like the whole world was funny because of George Carlin. His performing voice, even laced with profanity, always sounded as if he were trying to amuse a child. It was like the naughtiest, most fun grown-up you ever met was reading you a bedtime story.
I know George didn’t believe in heaven or hell. Like death, they were just more comedy premises. And it just makes me even sadder to think that when I reach my own end, whatever tumbling cataclysmic vortex of existence I’m spinning through, in that moment I will still have to think, “Carlin already did it.”
Jerry Seinfeld is a writer and a comedian.
The following appeared in today's NY Times and is posted here without permission. I thought it was worth sharing.
Op-Ed Contributor
Dying Is Hard. Comedy Is Harder.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/opinion/24seinfeld.html
By JERRY SEINFELD
Published: June 24, 2008
THE honest truth is, for a comedian, even death is just a premise to make jokes about. I know this because I was on the phone with George Carlin nine days ago and we were making some death jokes. We were talking about Tim Russert and Bo Diddley and George said: “I feel safe for a while. There will probably be a break before they come after the next one. I always like to fly on an airline right after they’ve had a crash. It improves your odds.”
I called him to compliment him on his most recent special on HBO. Seventy years old and he cranks out another hour of great new stuff. He was in a hotel room in Las Vegas getting ready for his show. He was a monster.
You could certainly say that George downright invented modern American stand-up comedy in many ways. Every comedian does a little George. I couldn’t even count the number of times I’ve been standing around with some comedians and someone talks about some idea for a joke and another comedian would say, “Carlin does it.” I’ve heard it my whole career: “Carlin does it,” “Carlin already did it,” “Carlin did it eight years ago.”
And he didn’t just “do” it. He worked over an idea like a diamond cutter with facets and angles and refractions of light. He made you sorry you ever thought you wanted to be a comedian. He was like a train hobo with a chicken bone. When he was done there was nothing left for anybody.
But his brilliance fathered dozens of great comedians. I personally never cared about “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” or “FM & AM.” To me, everything he did just had this gleaming wonderful precision and originality.
I became obsessed with him in the ’60s. As a kid it seemed like the whole world was funny because of George Carlin. His performing voice, even laced with profanity, always sounded as if he were trying to amuse a child. It was like the naughtiest, most fun grown-up you ever met was reading you a bedtime story.
I know George didn’t believe in heaven or hell. Like death, they were just more comedy premises. And it just makes me even sadder to think that when I reach my own end, whatever tumbling cataclysmic vortex of existence I’m spinning through, in that moment I will still have to think, “Carlin already did it.”
Jerry Seinfeld is a writer and a comedian.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Avery's First Trip to The Stadium
Yankee Stadium has a lot of nicknames. To me, it's always been one of my most special places on the planet. Today, I got to take my daughter Avery, now seven months old, to her first game, Yankees vs. Cincinnati Reds, June 21, 2008 at 1:05 pm.
The day started with a little more preparation than a normal trip to the Bronx. After all, I am usually not bringing a diaper bag. We left around 11:30, stopped for gas, some lunch for my wife Christine, and we were over the bridge in plenty of time to make to for the first pitch. Walking past the new stadium, I pointed and told Avery, "that will be yours...today we are going to mine."
We made our way through the line, and entered The Stadium through the Sidewalk Cafe, not too far from our seats in right field. I admit, I was pretty nervous. I wasn't sure how she would react to all of the people, the cheering, etc. As we walked down the tunnel, I hung back and watched Christine and Avery enter and snapped a picture. All I could think about was Billy Crystal's story about his first time in Yankee Stadium. He described the colors, having never seen them before as he watched games on black and white television. Even though I knew my daughter would have no recollection of this day, everything seemed a bit brighter to me.
We sat in our seats as the first pitch was thrown. Everyone in our section asked if this was her first game, commented on how cute she is, and then were amazed at how well behaved she was. She ate her lunch, looked at all of the people, smiled, sat on my lap, sat on Christine's lap, and took it all in. 
With Dan Giese (NYY) and Daryl Thompson (CIN) both making their first major league starts, I didn't expect a pitchers duel. However, that's what we got. I decided we should leave after six innings to beat the traffic a bit and not have to deal with the crowds on the way out. The score was 0-0 when we left. Considering the Yankees gave up four runs in the top of the 7th, and ended up losing 6-0, I would say we left at the perfect time.
I truly can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon than with my wife and daughter, in one of my favorite places on the planet. Today...was perfect.
"It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive"
JN
The day started with a little more preparation than a normal trip to the Bronx. After all, I am usually not bringing a diaper bag. We left around 11:30, stopped for gas, some lunch for my wife Christine, and we were over the bridge in plenty of time to make to for the first pitch. Walking past the new stadium, I pointed and told Avery, "that will be yours...today we are going to mine."
We made our way through the line, and entered The Stadium through the Sidewalk Cafe, not too far from our seats in right field. I admit, I was pretty nervous. I wasn't sure how she would react to all of the people, the cheering, etc. As we walked down the tunnel, I hung back and watched Christine and Avery enter and snapped a picture. All I could think about was Billy Crystal's story about his first time in Yankee Stadium. He described the colors, having never seen them before as he watched games on black and white television. Even though I knew my daughter would have no recollection of this day, everything seemed a bit brighter to me.
We sat in our seats as the first pitch was thrown. Everyone in our section asked if this was her first game, commented on how cute she is, and then were amazed at how well behaved she was. She ate her lunch, looked at all of the people, smiled, sat on my lap, sat on Christine's lap, and took it all in. 
With Dan Giese (NYY) and Daryl Thompson (CIN) both making their first major league starts, I didn't expect a pitchers duel. However, that's what we got. I decided we should leave after six innings to beat the traffic a bit and not have to deal with the crowds on the way out. The score was 0-0 when we left. Considering the Yankees gave up four runs in the top of the 7th, and ended up losing 6-0, I would say we left at the perfect time.
I truly can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon than with my wife and daughter, in one of my favorite places on the planet. Today...was perfect.
"It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive"
JN
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