May
29
2007
Happy Memorial Day! And a heads-up that a Nils Lofgren interview will be airing on “Andy Sedlak’s Back Door Radio Hour” tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday, May 29) at 3:00 p.m. Andy tells us, “We talked about his new solo album, Sacred Weapon, his new live DVD, Nils Lofgren & Friends Live Acoustic, the online guitar lessons available via his website, songwriting, a few stories behind songs on the new album, his work with Neil Young, the mentality before a Bruce Springsteen show and just what it’s like to play for 20,000 people on a nightly basis with Bruce, why he got kicked off his high school football team, and who he roots for now. We were busy, right?” The show airs on WWSU 106.9 in Dayton, OH; hear it online at listen.to/wssu.Andy mentioned the guitar lessons at nilslofgren.com, something we recently spoke with Nils about in-depth as well, for an upcoming issue of Backstreets magazine (new issue coming soon, we swear!). Fifteen bucks for each hour-long lesson from one of the true guitar greats? We figure that’s worth paying attention to. His latest virtual class is for the “Countin’ on a Miracle” solo… here’s Nils talking to Backstreets’ Roderick Jones about that solo’s genesis:
We were on a plane flying into Amsterdam after a great show. Bruce came up to me and said, “You know, for the show tomorrow night I’d like you to put together a little acoustic opener for ‘Counting on a Miracle.’”
I was up all night working on this thing, really being kind of ruthless. Like, look, tomorrow night I’m doing a show in Amsterdam. I want to have a piece that Bruce will sign off on that I can play.
I wound up being so excited that, even though I was tired, I stayed up all night long, played all day long. I was playing in the van to the soundcheck! I’ll never forget, at the end of the soundcheck… they wanted to open the doors. So, we gotta stop, and we were walking off the stage, and I stopped Bruce and I said, “Bruce, I don’t know if I wanna play this ‘Miracle’ piece cold on you, but I got something that I think might work.”
He said, “Let me hear it.” So we stopped the doors from opening for another 45 seconds, and I played it quick. He said, “That might work, give it a shot tonight.”
And I did, and it worked, and I was able to use it every time that we played that song for the rest of the tour. That was literally a creation that was done in, like, 18 hours.
Check out the Nils Lofgren Guitar School for Lesson 1: “Keith Don’t Go”; Lesson 2: “Harmonics”; and Lesson 3: “Miracle Intro, Part One.” New lessons are added monthly
May
22
2007
On Monday, June 4, for one night only, you have the chance to see a 90 minute screening featuring selections from Bruce Springsteen With The Sessions Band Live In Dublin on the big screen, in a theater filled with fellow Springsteen fans.
See below or visit dandeentertainment.com for theater and ticket info.
- Los Angeles - The Landmark(West Los Angeles) »
- Atlanta - Midtown Art Cinema »
- New York - Sunshine Theatre »
- Boston - Kendall Square Cinema »
- Chicago - Century Centre Cinema »
- Denver - Chez Artiste »
- Detroit - Emagine Novi »
- Detroit - Emagine Canton »
- Birch Run, MI - Cinema Hollywood »
- Indianapolis - Keystone Cinema »
- Minneapolis - Lagoon Cinema »
- San Diego - Ultrastar Theatres Mission Valley »
- San Francisco - Embarcadero Center Cinema »
- St. Louis - Chesterfield Galaxy 14 Cinema »
- Washington DC - E Street Cinema »
- Columbus, OH - Rave Polaris 18 »
- Grand Rapids, MI - Celebration Grand Rapids North »
- Lansing, MI - Celebration Cinema & Imax Lansing »
- Seattle - Metro Cinemas »
- Nashville - Thoroughbred 20 »
- Austin - Dobie »
May
20
2007
George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Billy Joel, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen & Bob Dylan - I Saw Her Standing There (The Beatles)
May
14
2007
Brian Wilson played Red Bank, NJ last night, for the Beach Bash at the Basie, the Count Basie Theatre’s 5th annual gala fundraiser — and a local hero joined in for some fun, fun, fun. A particular auction item earlier in the evening might have been a tip-off: a Challenger surfboard signed by both Wilson and Bruce Springsteen. The surprise guest spot came during Wilson’s encore, when “The Boss!” was introduced for “Barbara Ann.” Springsteen played rhythm on a white Les Paul, stepping up for a solo, too, and he shared a mic with the sax player to sing along on the chorus. For the final song, Bruce was back sans guitar to sing harmonies on “Love and Mercy” from Wilson’s 1988 self-titled solo debut.
-May 13, 2007
www.backstreets.com
May
13
2007
With PBS stations around the country to air a cut of Live in Dublin in June — NJN Public Television got out of the gate early, premiering footage last week for viewers in Jersey — they’ll also be offering an exclusive five-track CD as an incentive to pledge. If you only care about the music, this’ll be one of the more expensive CDs you could add to your collection… but if you want to support Public Television, it’s a fine bonus. Five live tracks that didn’t make the cut for Live in Dublin will be found here: “Bobby Jean,” “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” “Johnny 99,” “For You,” and “My City of Ruins.” Check with your local PBS station for details on pledge drives and air dates.
As for that NJN airing, we’re reserving judgment until we see the DVD itself — and we’ll be looking for yours then, too, with a readers’ poll. But we can’t ignore reports we’re hearing bemoaning the quick cuts that have been in vogue for far too long. Bill Kenney tells us: “Maybe it’s not that bad, but the snippets I saw of Live in Dublin on the NJN fundraiser have the same claustrophobic feel the previous videos had on AOL (and right through the American Land DVD), and with that MTV-style choppy cutting to boot, that sucks the life out of what was a vibrant, buoyant, spacious stage show. Maybe it was hard to capture that feel, even with nine cameras, but I think the editing is repetitive, and the lighting seems really dark as well. But musically, there were some pretty cool versions of ‘Growin’ Up,’ ‘Further On (Up the Road),’ a great ‘This Little Light of Mine,’ and promising clips of a bunch of others like ‘Highway Patrolman,’ and ‘Atlantic City.’” Read more reports on BTX — and if you’ve seen it, feel free to chime in.
Come release day, June 5, there will be four different configurations of Live in Dublin to choose from: A 2-CD set, a standard DVD, a combination of those two as a 2-CD/DVD set, and a Blu-ray disc [a hi-res video format, click here for more info]. We’ll start taking pre-orders next week at Backstreet Records, and we always appreciate your support; if you’re a collector, though, you may want to jump on FYE’s pre-sale, as they’re throwing in an exclusive 11 x 17 poster.
Go To
www.backstreets.com
May
08
2007
Is it possible to have too much Bruce stuff? Well, we think we do. It’s time for some spring cleaning, and as our way of saying thanks to you, we’re offering 20% off everything in our Springsteen mail-order shop. It’s been three years since we’ve had a sale this big, and who knows when we’ll do it again… so get shopping now to save big on everything from Backstreet Records!
It’s all 20% off, for a very short time. In-stock items only, while supplies last. Backstreets subscriptions not included in sale. Be sure to enter the coupon code at checkout to get the 20% discount: SUNNYDAY
Enter the Backstreet Records shop here, and thanks as always for your support!
-May 7, 2007
