Bruce Springsteen Live! Grammy Museum Traveling Exhibit Launches in Downtown Los Angeles October 15th through April 2, 2023;
Harvey Kubernik: Travels and Expeditions with Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, and the E Street Band in the Seventies
By Harvey Kubernik Copyright 2022
For nearly half a century, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have exemplified the crowd-pleasing, soul-shaking, energy-exploding excitement of rock and roll onstage.
From an intimate look into Springsteen’s creative process to shedding light on how he became – and remains – one of the best live performers in rock and roll history, the GRAMMY Museum®’s Bruce Springsteen Live! explores the evolution of Springsteen through the decades and grants exclusive backstage access to Springsteen and the E Street Band’s legendary performances.
Bruce Springsteen Live! is a partnership with The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University.
Born to Run Album Cover Courtesy of the Harvey Kubernik Archives
A press release from the Grammy Museum announced the event.
“The GRAMMY Museum is excited to bring Bruce Springsteen Live! to Los Angeles,” said Jasen Emmons, Chief Curator and Vice President of Curatorial Affairs at the GRAMMY Museum. “We’re also thrilled to offer a special, expanded exhibit with the help of Springsteen fans for a one-of-a-kind immersive experience.”
“From Springsteen’s earliest days on the Jersey Shore, performing in dingy clubs and boardwalk bars, to performing sold-out superstar stadium shows, his aim was to always exceed the loftiest expectations. Bruce Springsteen Live! will feature 49 years of iconic artifacts, live performance footage, instruments and stage costumes, exclusive interviews, concert posters and photography, as well as unique interactive displays to immerse fans into the minds of Springsteen and the E Street Band’s prolific process and how they prepare for concerts and tours.
“Few performers embody the soul and excitement of live rock and roll like Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band,” said co-curator Robert Santelli. “This exhibit will give fresh insight into how they’ve been able to remain one of the greatest live acts for five decades.”
“We are honored to work with the GRAMMY Museum on this unique Bruce Springsteen exhibit,” said co-curator Eileen Chapman, Director of The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music. “Since his first west coast show as a touring musician at the Troubadour in 1973 to the present day, Bruce has performed over 100 shows in the Los Angeles area and has thrilled millions of fans with his electrifying performances. This extensive exhibit provides a peek behind the curtain and a stirring trip down memory lane.”
Exhibit highlights include:
Born to Run Esquire Guitar: A staple of Springsteen’s career, the modified Fender guitar was featured most famously on the album cover of Born to Run (1975), as well as Live 1975/85 (1986), Human Touch (1992), and Wrecking Ball (2012)
Clarence Clemons Saxophone: Nicknamed “The Big Man,” the legendary saxophonist played alongside Springsteen for 40 years. Upon Clarence’s death in 2011, the iconic instrument was passed on to his nephew Jake Clemons who, since 2012, continues to use it in performance as the newest member of the E Street Band.
Stage Clothing: Outfits and accessories from Springsteen and members of the E Street Band.
Tunnel of Love Ticket Booth Stage Prop: From the 1988 Tunnel of Love Tour, this iconic ticket booth symbolized the audience’s admittance to the onstage narrative of the rollercoaster of love, loyalty, commitment, and faith.
Max Weinberg’s Tunnel of Love drum kit, plus a drum interactive with tips from Weinberg.
Danny Federici Accordion
Create Your Encore Interactive: Springsteen is known for his encores! This interactive kiosk will allow visitors to view his handwritten setlists and create their own encores to compare against Springsteen’s original.”
This upcoming Bruce Springsteen Live! 2022-2023 exhibit in Los Angeles made me re-visit a handful of my Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert moments during the seventies.
Guitarist, songwriter, record producer, and radio deejay Steven Van Zandt has known Springsteen since he was 16 and put him up at his pad in New Jersey when Bruce’s parents moved to California.
In my 2004 book, This Is Rebel Music, Van Zandt explained the bond Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have with their devoted throng.
This also extends to his own Little Steven’s Underground Garage channel heard on the SiriusXM satellite radio network.
Bruce Springsteen Photos by Henry Diltz, Courtesy of the Harvey Kubernik Archives
“I know it sounds a bit silly but I do believe rock ‘n’ roll can change the world. It’s about bands, and that for me suggests brotherhood, family, friendship, and community.
“I don’t mean to be blasphemes but I look at rock and roll as a religion. For me it is that kind of thing. People become part of this religion regardless of their age, or what a certain common ground with this type or that I can’t explain but I know exists.
“Because that’s what we do, that’s the job description with a performing artist; you have to be that thing that helps to heal in times of suffering. Sometimes it’s there to celebrate…but you are sort of the ‘voice of the community’, or the sounding board or whatever. In a funny way, I think that rock ‘n’ roll became the church of the community. I know it has been for me…”
In very late April and early May of 1973, Columbia Records President Clive Davis hosted a week of label acts in downtown Los Angeles at The Ahmanson Theater billed as A Week to Remember. Judy Paynter, Director of Press Information at Columbia Records in their Sunset Blvd. office in Hollywood invited me.
I saw Johnny Cash, Miles Davis, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Charlie Rich, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Billy Paul. Richard Pryor was an emcee one night.
On May 1, 1973 at the venue, Davis showcased Bruce Springsteen alongside Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show and New Riders of the Purple Sage. Springsteen’s played tunes from his just issued January 5th ’73 debut LP Greetings From Asbury Park N.J.: “Spirit in the Night, “Wild Billy’s Circus Story, “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street,” and something called “Thundercrack.” I think he did an encore of “Twist and Shout.”
I had just interviewed a couple of disco acts, and man, did I need a shot of rock ‘n’ roll which Bruce supplied.
In the lobby I spotted scene-maker, record producer/songwriter Kim Fowley. I was introduced to the tall and lanky Fowley by a Columbia record executive. The promo man asked Kim “What do you think of this guy? Some of these words are from Mars.” Kim, who was writing songs with the Byrds’ Skip Battin for the New Riders of the Purple Sage, replied, “I wish I had his music publishing on any planet.
I next saw Springsteen at Doug Weston’s Troubadour club in West Hollywood in 1973. Maybe in February. Perhaps on my birthday, February 26th. Photographer Richard Creamer was with me. A short set. Maybe before or after the Ahmanson appearance. Bruce meant every word that came out of his mouth.
During 2007 I interviewed record business icon Clive Davis about the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival. He was a guest of co-producer Lou Adler. After the landmark Monterey gathering, Davis signed Big Brother & the Holding Company, the Electric Flag, and eventually Al Kooper’s new band, Blood, Sweat & Tears. Kooper was an assistant stage manager at Monterey.
It was on the initial suggestion of legendary A&R man and record producer, John Henry Hammond II, that Davis signed Bruce Springsteen to the label on January 9, 1972, the same day I saw the Rolling Stones at the Hollywood Palladium.
It was a determined Mike Appel, serving as Springsteen’s manager/record producer/music publisher of Laurel Canyon, Ltd., who initiated an audition for Bruce in a studio with Hammond.
“At Monterey I was really just getting my feet wet. I was in the business side of it for a year,” reminisced Davis in an interview I did with him for MOJO magazine.
“I was working with Andy Williams, the young Barbra Streisand and Bob Dylan, and signed Donovan to Epic in 1966. I was observing.
“I was seeing the business change,” Clive remarked. “I was seeing music change, but I was waiting for the A&R staff to lead into these changes that were showing evidence in becoming important in music. So, when I really came to Monterey not knowing what to expect, but seeing a revolution before my eyes. I had no idea what awaited me.
“All of a sudden seeing Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the Electric Flag, and the artists that were there, there no was no question that the predominance there was a change in contemporary music. A definite hardening, edgier, rockier amplification that was taking place that truly was signaling a major revolution in rock music.
“The success of the artists I signed at Monterey gave me confidence that I had good ears.”
I have a faint memory of a March 1973 Springsteen booking at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium show where Bruce and the E Street Band opened for Dr. John and blew the headliner off the stage. What I do remember from that night was holding hands with the girl I was with during “Lost in the Flood.” The run up to that achievement took an entire college semester but well worth it…
On July 30, 1974 I went to the Troubadour with my brother Kenneth. It was another Columbia Records-themed evening. The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn played a short set. McGuinn was embarking on a solo career. That day Charlie Coplen, a Columbia publicist arranged an interview with Roger and I at his house in Malibu for Sounds magazine in the UK.
The word was out: Bruce and the E Street Band were going to play.
I knew the club manager, Robert Marchese, who had produced a Grammy winning live album on Richard Pryor. Paul Body was the doorman. Kenneth and I were seated right on the floor.
Bruce and the boys came just after midnight. It was a translucent experience as they delivered songs from The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle. Just Marvelous.
The numbers on their LP became ten times larger in the room. “Incident on 57th Street,” “Spirit in the Night,” “New York City Serenade,” “Jungleland,” “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” and “Kitty’s Back,” plus a cover of the Crystals’ “Then He Kissed Me.” Ken raved about pianist David Sancious.
Near 2:00 am, Marchese grabbed the club P.A. system microphone and announced over the speakers, “They can play longer. But we need to take all the glasses and liquor off the tables. No drinking! We don’t want any hassles with the city who can bust us for violating our liquor license.”
The band stopped and the tables were wiped clean. The outfit reloaded and did another hour. Bruce ended the night diving onto a table top.
Afterwards, Bruce thanked Marchese and his staff for the support. Robert, who had seen everyone perform from Elvis Presley to Otis Redding, said to Bruce, “I haven’t seen rock ‘n’ roll like this since I saw Jimi burn his guitar at Monterey. You’re the next great one.”
The dye was cast.
During October of 1975, I attended the string of Roxy Theater nights Bruce and the E Street Band booked on Sunset Blvd. KWST-FM broadcast the evening of October 15th.
The Columbia Records staff lauded my ongoing coverage of Springsteen’s recordings and comped me out. I was phoned the minute the first promotional copies of Born to Run arrived in the office. I received one with the coveted rare front cover.
Before one gig at the Roxy, I saw Bruce in Tower Records. He bought an album by the Byrds and that night did “Goin’ Back,” reading the lyrics on stage. I covered the engagement for Melody Maker, and interviewed his manager Mike Appel and engineer, Jimmy Iovine.
I sat with Jackie DeShannon and Tom Waits one evening. Jack Nicholson, was nearby. He was from New Jersey and knew the actor Rupert Cross, a close friend of Robert Marchese. I had met Jack on the set of The Monkees in 1967.
I first encountered guitarist and Springsteen co-conspirator Miami Steve Van Zandt at a soundcheck, and again inside the Sunset Marquis Hotel. He joined the band in 1975.
Bruce Springsteen Photos by Henry Diltz, Courtesy of the Harvey Kubernik Archives