Spare Parts: You Can Look…

Just one more day until our regular programming resumes, but as promised, I thought I’d share a few more souvenirs from my week on the road.

Let’s start at the end: Last night, Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers played a special live 25th Anniversary concert for their American Babylon album, streamed live on Facebook by Little Steven’s Underground Garage.

Joe and the band played a scorching set, and I was grateful to catch it in person. But I was downright stunned when they asked me to introduce them shortly before they took the stage–stunned and honored. It was a total adrenaline rush to be up there on stage with the guys, and that rush lasted through the entire set. If you missed it, you can watch the entire performance here, and don’t forget to catch Joe and Bruce together on Apple Music this evening at 5pm Eastern.

The centerpiece of my trip, however, was my second visit to the Springsteen Archives at Monmouth University. Archives Director Eileen Chapman and student archivist Connor Rupp graciously allowed me to spend an entire day and assisted me in locating newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and “mystery boxes” for new material for both the upcoming Year Five(!) of Kingdom of Days and a book I’ve started working on.

I left with a very nice cache of scanned and captured documents that I’ll weave into the blog in 2022, but there were also some fascinating undated artifacts that I thought I’d share with you here–all of which were found in a “mystery box” (my name, not theirs) of assorted items.

First up: a few pages from a teenage Bruce Springsteen’s school term paper on the New Jersey Judicial System. I don’t know how old Bruce was when he wrote it, but I love seeing how his handwriting looked before he’d started signing autographs by the the thousands. I also get a kick out of the ever-widening margins, and the way his teacher catches on to him by the end. The kicker is his teacher’s final remark: “Somewhat brief.” That may be the only time someone has ever used those words to describe Bruce’s work.

Next up: a very nice thank-you note from Quincy Jones to Bruce after the recording session for “We Are the World.”

I loved this adorable note from Bruce’s Aunt Dora to his mom around the time of Bruce’s year-ending stand at the Tower Theater in 1975.

What do you suppose an “Oreo party” is like? Bruce must have been sorely tempted to go.

And finally (for now), this touching letter from an aspiring musician to his idol. You might recognize who it’s from.

We’ll see more fascinating artifacts from the Springsteen Archives in next year’s Kingdom of Days series, but for now and once again: my thanks to Eileen and Connor and the entire staff for the important work they do and the gracious assistance they provide to researchers.

As this sees print, I’m in the air on my way back home. Thanks for indulging me a couple of days of “Spare Parts” while I traveled; regular programming resumes with Roll of the Dice tomorrow.