Clips from “Wrecking Ball”

Bruce Springsteen met with the foreign press in Paris yesterday.  He spoke about his forthcoming album Wrecking Ball, and how the death of Clarence Clemons was like losing the rain. Included in this video are some clips of “Easy Money,” “Shackled and Drawn,” “Wrecking Ball,” and “Land of Hope and Dreams.” We here at 30 Days Out are eagerly anticipating a Springsteen gig in Austin during SXSW. We will be there to cover his keynote address and, if we’re lucky, a live performance.

Bruce Springsteen official website

Backstreets magazine

Bruce Springsteen News on Facebook

Video du Jour: “Blue Christmas” by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Recorded last year, this is the last song Clarence Clemons played with the E Street Band. RIP Big Man.

Bruce Springsteen Official Website

Backstreets Magazine

Rock and Roll Identity Crisis

Axl Rose with guitarist DJ Ashba, ostensibly Slash's replacement - is it really GNR?

Walking into Houston’s Toyota Center for the big Guns N’ Roses show last week, we overheard people asking each other incredulously: “Slash is NOT with them???” Well, no. The guitarist left in 1996, on not-so-friendly terms with lead singer Axl Rose. As did pretty much all of the other original band members. So who was playing that Friday night in Houston?

Was it Axl and a bunch of no-name scabs? Hardly – this version of Guns N’ Roses can certainly deliver the goods and is totally worthy of the name. But what happens when other popular rock groups hit the road with just one or two original members in tow? Is it still the same group we know and love?

Lynyrd Skynyrd's current guitar lineup includes (from left) Rickey Medlocke, Sparky Matjeka, original member Gary Rossington and bassist Robert Kearns.

Just a week before GNR, we saw Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top in Austin. Skynyrd has had more attrition than any other rock band in memory, after a plane crash that killed original lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister and backup singer Cassie Gaines. Other original members have also died or retired; the current Skynyrd lineup contains only one original member, guitarist Gary Rossington.

Skynyrd became stars in 1973 with their debut album, so the crash meant that the classic lineup was in the national limelight for only about four years. The new Skynyrd lineup has been together, with various members, since 1987. So is it Lynyrd Skynyrd? Probably it’s a really good tribute band – paying tribute to itself.

In some cases it’s clear cut: it can never be the Rolling Stones unless Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts are involved, but if John Fogerty hired a new rhythm section and toured as Creedence, why not? If Van Halen tours with David Lee Roth, the only person who may dispute the authenticity would be Sammy Hagar, sitting in his living room. Classic ’70s bands Foreigner and Journey hired new lead singers and have both re-recorded their old hits – Walmart shoppers picking up the new CDs probably don’t know, or don’t care.

It gets stickier with bands with well-known, or even beloved, members playing behind the lead singer. Can Bruce Springsteen tour without Clarence Clemons and still call it the E Street Band? Heartbreaking as that may be, that’s probably what he will do. If Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston hit the road next year, can they still call themselves the Beach Boys? Probably. The Kinks? Only if Ray and Dave Davies are both on board.

What's Bruce Springsteen gonna do without Clarence Clemons?

Some years ago David Gilmour fronted a Pink Floyd lineup that included original members Rick Wright and Nick Mason, but not Roger Waters. It worked for millions, if not for Roger. The Who have been diminished by half, but Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend still sell a lot of tickets under the Who banner. If Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones can talk Robert Plant into a tour, Led Zeppelin will most certainly pack ’em in.

And I suppose that’s what it all boils down to: will the audience accept a lineup that isn’t original? Ask Axl Rose, while he’s counting the gate receipts from the current Guns N’ Roses tour, and the answer is yes – in some cases.

– Denny Angelle

YouTube: Guns N’ Roses playing “Sweet Child O’ Mine” in Houston (the sound is horrible, but you can see it was a crowd favorite).

This one’s MUCH better – “Welcome To The Jungle” on 11/17 in New Jersey

Back from NYC: A Rock and Roll Tour

An iconic wall of stickers and fliers, preserved under glass at what used to be CBGB's.

Remind me never to go back to New York City in the dead of summer: walking along the city’s sidewalks as the sun sizzled temperatures to near 97 was just as hellish as any August day in our hometown of Houston. But it wasn’t just the heat that reminded us of Texas – it seemed everywhere you turned, there was music in the big city.

The summertime is perfect for live music in New York, and there are plenty of “canned” live music events to satisfy any tourist, including but not limited to the Friday-morning TV-ready “concerts” staged for the network morning news shows. We didn’t do those anyway – we had our hands full with all the other things going on.

New York City is of course a cradle of rock and roll history. You can go to about 100 places that have some significance in music history, from the Brill Building to the Iridium Club (where Les Paul used to play live on a weekly basis) to the Strawberry Fields-John Lennon memorial in Central Park (along with the adjacent Dakota apartment building).

Hard Rock Cafe exhibit is a reminder of our great recent loss.

We got the tourist stuff out of the way first, heading to the big Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square which is an attraction not for its food but for its rich store of rock memorabilia. No shortage of Beatles stuff here – from the actual doors from the Abbey Road studios, to early Beatles matching stage costumes, to beautiful album art covers autographed by all four Beatles, it’s a Fab Four mother lode.

We were lucky enough to sit right under a Bruce Springsteen exhibit with a Boss guitar, a Little Steven guitar and a Clarence Clemons saxophone. We paid tribute once more to the Big Man – a great, great artist. Did you know that the Hard Rock is located in what used to be NYC’s Paramount Theatre, where rock and roll pioneer Alan Freed staged some of his seminal shows back in the day? It’s also the place where Elvis’ first movie Love Me Tender had its world premiere in 1956.

We also walked into Greenwich Village, and in Washington Square park there were at least seven bands playing for tips along the sidewalks. Soon we were on Bleeker headed for the former location of CBGBs on Bowery St. The seminal punk club closed in 2006, and virtually overnight the owners uprooted just about anything that wasn’t nailed down for a possible rebirth of the club someplace else.

I’d never been in the neighborhood before,  it didn’t seem the kind of place that hordes of mohawked and safety-pin-pierced punks would frequent, but I understand many things have changed since 1977. Right now the old CBGBs is an upscale fashion boutique ($800 for a leather jacket, and not a cool one at that!) and pretty much the only concession to history are some patches of wall that still sport hundreds of stickers and fliers from the punk daze, protected under a clear glass window.

Pretty much everywhere you turn in Greenwich Village, you see written on the subway walls and tenement halls two words of graffiti: “Lou Reed.” In one three-block stroll on the way to the former CBGBs, I think I must have seen that name scrawled at least 100 times. I surmised that the graffiti had been created by Lou himself, after some sort of guerilla-marketing brainstorm (or a six pack). No matter – Lou Reed is perhaps the No. 1 rocker that comes to mind when I think of New York City.

Like I said: it's written everywhere in Greenwich Village.

Lou is also the unofficial King of Coney Island (King Neptune), and the next day we found ourselves on the D train headed for Brooklyn and Coney Island. There was a free concert on Coney Island the night before, with San Antonio’s Girl In A Coma and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts headlining, but nobody wanted to ride the subway back late at night. So we arrived on the Boardwalk right about high noon, and there were smells of suntan lotion, hot dogs and cologne everywhere. I looked around for Lou, but no luck; I did, however, catch a few bars of “Coney Island Baby” emanating from Cha-Cha’s Bar & Cafe.

Later that night, back in Manhattan, we cleaned up and attended “Spider Man: Turn Off The Dark” on Broadway. Although Bono and the Edge were rumored to be in town for an appearance on David Letterman, they were no-shows at the play. We particularly enjoyed one scene, where Peter Parker and Mary Jane dance in a club to U2’s “Vertigo.” It is the best song in the show.

Then, finally, the next night we headed for the Bronx to see some guy sing Beatles songs in Yankee Stadium. You can read all about that below; even the part about the guest walk-on by Billy Joel, who Paul McCartney called “a friend of New York.” I would have to agree with that – mostly. Nobody asked me, but if you want Mr. Rock and Roll New York, go down to Greenwich Village and read the graffiti.

MP3: “Coney Island Baby” (live) by Lou Reed

Clarence Clemons, R.I.P.

Clarence Clemons, the saxophonist of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, has died in Florida at the age of 69. Clemons is legendary not only for his epic performances with Springsteen, but he appeared on others’ records as well – most recently, Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory.” The “Big Man” is one of rock and roll’s true characters and the soul of one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

Clarence Clemons obit from Associated Press

Clarence Clemons remembered, from the Chicago Tribune

Bruce Springsteen statement in Rolling Stone

YouTube: “Born To Run”

YouTube: “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out”

Friday is Boss’ Day: Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball” available at iTunes

Columbia Records has released Bruce Springsteen’s new song “Wrecking Ball” exclusively on iTunes. The bundle features the live track and video, both recorded at Giants Stadium a few weeks ago. Check out all the details at Backstreets magazine and Bruce’s official website. Any new Bruce is good, so enjoy. By the way, I was listening to Howard Stern this week and Clarence Clemons mentioned that he will be “retiring.” Not exactly sure what that means, but if you haven’t seen the band in a while, now is the time.

Friday is Boss’ Day: E-Street Detours

                                             

Bruce Springsteen used to be notorious for taking a long time between albums. Three to four years was usually the norm. This gave members of the E Street Band (and Bruce himself) the freedom to explore other options.  Here are just a few:

Gary U.S. Bonds – At one time Gary Anderson (who changed his name to Gary U.S. Bonds after a record company sent his first disc to radio stations with the headline “Buy U.S. Bonds”) was so hot he was a headliner above newcomers The Beatles on a 1963 tour. Bruce and Little Steven (both of whom had grown up on Bonds hits like “Quarter to Three”) met Bonds in 1980. The three became fast friends and Bruce and Stevie produced Bonds’ comeback album, Dedication, in 1981 which included the hit “This Little Girl.” The pair also went on to produce On the Line a year later.  Both are excellent rock and roll CDs, and hard to find.

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes – Southside Johnny is a poor man’s Bruce Springsteen. The Boss has contributed numerous tunes to Southside’s career such as “The Fever,” and “All the Way Home” to mention a few. Little Steven was behind the boards for most of Southside’s albums including the critically acclaimed Hearts of Stone.  “Love On The Wrong Side Of Town,” from the Jukes’ second LP, is a Springsteen-Van Zandt co-write.

Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul – Little Steven’s always called himself a “band guy.”  The Springsteen consigliere  stepped out in front on his first album, Men Without Women, in 1982, and actually left the E Street Band to tour in support of Voice of America in 1984. Van Zandt has a great soulful voice and it really comes out in his solo work. His tunes are often highly political, but usually groovin’. Both CDs are excellent if you can find them. 

Killer Joe – In the early 1990s Mighty Max Weinberg anchored this unit along with guitarist/trumpeter Mark Pender and the Vivino brothers, Jimmy and Jerry.  Scene Of The Crime is a slick R&B effort highlighted by the Springsteen-penned instrumental, “Summer On Signal Hill.”  A chance meeting on a NYC street with talk show host-to-be Conan O’Brien led to Weinberg’s assembling the Max Weinberg 7 in 1993 with some of his old Killer Joe buds.  Check out the self-titled 7 album on Hip-O Records, it’s a hoot.

The Red Bank Rockers – Clarence Clemons has always been asked to participate on other records and he’s played on a few big hits (“You’re A Friend Of Mine” with Jackson Browne, “Freeway Of Love” by Aretha Franklin).  He also had a solid solo career in the mid-1980s, releasing some successful albums under the Red Bank Rockers moniker.  Bruce chipped in to the effort by writing the single “Savin’ Up”  for the Red Bankers’ second album.

MP3: This Little Girl by Gary U.S. Bonds

MP3: Love On The Wrong Side Of Town by Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes

MP3: Lyin’ In A Bed Of Fire by Little Steven & the Disciples Of Soul

MP3: Summer On Signal Hill by Killer Joe

MP3: Savin’ Up by Clarence Clemons & the Red Bank Rockers

Southside Johnny official website

Clarence Clemons official website

Late Night with Conan O’Brien