30 years old today.
Anyone going to Hyde Park on Saturday might want to take an extra day in London to check out this exhibition at Proud Chelsea, opening on Thursday:
Bruce Springsteen: The Turning Point 1977-79 - Photographs by Lynn Goldsmith
Proud Chelsea is delighted to present Springsteen: The Turning Point 1977 - 1979, an exclusive collection of dynamic portraits of rock icon, Bruce Springsteen, taken by celebrated photographer Lynn Goldsmith.
Legendary artist, and currently embarking on his latest world tour, Bruce Springsteen is emblematic of timeless rock and roll. These rare, personal photographs - taken between 1977 and 1979 - provide an intimate glance at The Boss’ breakthrough years, before he reached his peak star status.
Over the last four decades, Lynn Goldsmith’s photographic contributions make her a rock legend in her own right. She has photographed Elvis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, and Michael Jackson among other musical idols; the candid personal relationships Lynn developed with many of these artists, combined with her own unique creativity, have yielded her work iconic. Through her relentless energy, dedication, and technical skill, Goldsmith was able to capture rock icon Bruce Springsteen at the true turning point of his career, in a way no other photographer could.
Proud Chelsea is pleased to present this unique opportunity to step back in time and into the world of one of music’s true superstars. Coinciding with his much anticipated performance at Hyde Park’s Hard Rock Calling on 14th July, this exclusive exhibition showcases a rare and unseen collection of personal portraits and stage shots from Springsteen’s glory days.
Bruce Springsteen: last of the protest singers | Music | The Observer
A brilliant article about Bruce Springsteen’s political commitment and integrity - and why they matter.
I was 17 the year Tunnel of Love was released; Bruce Springsteen was 38 and intent on ruminating, on taking stock, on running down a list of decisions and regrets, looking backward and around himself, because he was unable to see the way forward. I missed that then. To me, the album was just good; I simply didn’t know enough to recognize the pain and confusion that was quite real, quite apparent, had I known what to look for. Everything, it seems, was fair game, fodder for the music—his marriage, his sense of self-worth, his confidence in his ability to get even one thing right. What comes off the groove is not quite an emotional breakdown, but the tears are not far from the edge of his eyelids as he unloads some of the most trenchant, inward-looking lyrics he’d ever write, in a voice that is by turns soft/yearning and brash/cocky, set to music made almost entirely on his own. Tunnel of Love is an album-length meditation on the possibilities of love, as well as its limitations.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Tunnel of Love is one of those things that make more and more sense as you get older. Like mortgages or whiskey.
Read more of Rob Smith’s brilliant reappraisal of the album at Popdose.
That is all. Thank you.
When Bruce Springsteen wrote Born to Run more than 30 years ago, it is a safe bet that the eventual destination he had in mind in his anthem to youthful hopes was not the governor’s residence.
But a poll suggests he would romp home in a race against the Republican incumbent in New Jersey, Chris Christie.
The Public Policy Polling survey ties the two on 42% but gives Springsteen much higher favourability ratings.
The survey, conducted from 15-18 July, added Springsteen for fun to a list of possible Democratic challengers to Christie.
Although Springsteen has not indicated plans to stand, the New Jersey native is highly political, having campaigned for John Kerry and Barack Obama in the 2004 and 2008 White House elections, and has been openly critical of Christie.
The Republican governor, who was talked about as a potential Republican presidential candidate earlier this year, has seen his political fortunes dive. Christie is a big Springsteen fan, claiming to have seen him live 125 times, and asked him to perform at his inauguration as governor in 2009. Springsteen declined.
PPP, in a press release, said that if Springsteen was to stand and came across as a credible candidate, he could see a rise in the 42% recorded in the poll. “Springsteen has favourability numbers any politician would die for,” PPP said.
Springsteen, who lives in New Jersey, wrote to New Jersey’s Asbury Park Press earlier this year complaining about Christie’s budget cuts.
“The cuts are eating away at the lower edges of the middle class, not just those already classified as in poverty, and are likely to continue to get worse.”
When Springsteen refused to play at Christie’s inauguration and criticised his opposition to same-sex marriages, Christie joked that it had been two bad decisions by the rock star.
“Bruce and I don’t agree on certain things politically – big shock,” Christie said. “But it doesn’t diminish at all my enjoyment of him as an artist and a performer.”
Before anyone says he was “born to run”, I will put it in writing that I’d get US citizenship and move to New Jersey just to vote for Bruce.
Bruce and Clarence were Scooter and the Big Man, they were black and white, they were big and small. It was still a bold move in the early ’70s, especially in some parts of the country, to have an African-American in your band, much less one you danced with, rubbed butts with and engaged in a long soulful kiss with; the country was only a few years out of the Civil Rights movement and there are stories of gigs the band didn’t get and hotels they were told they weren’t welcome in.
via Backstreets.com: Rest in Peace, Big Man
(via Bruce Springsteen Guests on New Pete Seeger Album | Billboard.com)
Bruce Springsteen has recorded a new Pete Seeger song for a Seeger album that is penciled in for release this holiday season.
Springsteen sings two verses and a chorus on “God is Counting on Us,” a song Seeger wrote in response to the oil spill in the Gulf Coast. Appleseed Recordings will release the Seeger album.
The song will be the sixth exclusive Springsteen song that Appleseed has released in conjunction with its various Seeger projects, label owner Jim Musselman told Billboard.com. The Boss has had tracks on 1998’s “Where Have all the Flowers Gone,” 2007’s “Sowing the Seeds” and 2007’s “Give Us Your Poor,” among others. “Tomorrow’s Children,” the latest Seeger recording from Appleseed, won the Grammy this year for best musical album for children. Seeger, 92, has been honored with Grammys, a Kennedy Center Award, the Presidential Medal of the Arts and a Lifetime Legends medal from the Library of Congress.
Musselman is calling on others to contribute to the album that he hopes to have singed within the next few weeks. Springsteen paid tribute to Seeger in 2006 with his album “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions” and a live album from his tour performing the material.
