Driving Jersey: Bruce Springsteen Part 1

I grew up listening to my oldest brother listening to his music and I looked up to him and favored his taste, just like any little brother would. It was the early 80's. He would rise with rock each morning before school. I lay in my kid bed there in South Jersey, attentive to his tunes. Bruce Springsteen welcomed me into each early day and life really, so I grew up, like many, particularly many in Jersey, feeling like Bruce was related to me. Sure, celebrity can have a unique effect on people, to make the fan feel close to the total stranger, but there's something else when it comes to Bruce. He's on a first name basis for a reason. His intention or maybe his only best option was to tell the stories of people like him, from places like his and thusly they found some easier path into our souls.

I've always loved hearing "Bruce Stories" from fans like me, and my brothers, who feel like they know him. There's always something mythic in the retelling. I know there's a certain amount of embellishment in their tales, but in some way, it makes them all the more enjoyable to hear. And there's something to be said for anyone who moves a storyteller to exaggeration.

In 1977 Bruce Springsteen played the Carleton Theater, described by locals as a shuttered theater, which opened for occasional shows. Today it is the renowned Count Basie Theater in Red Bank. "Born To Run" had come out two years earlier and Bruce had already had his face on the cover of Newsweek and Time Magazine in the same week, but there was still something of the rising star, the local boy makes good about him and the shows at the Carleton had that neighborhood intimacy about them. The best kept secret was already being shouted from the rooftops, but the locals were still holding on. The stories that were later told about "that night" in Red Bank are part of the pantheon of Jersey rock history.

When Bruce returned to the theater 31 years later, Driving Jersey was there to take in the tales of the fans and the following. Many we spoke to weren't even going to see the show, they were there for the spectacle and I like to think, part of it was being there as perpetual homecoming party, a homage to a guy from the neighborhood who fulfilled the promise.

Enjoy Driving Jersey: Bruce Springsteen and think about all those promises you made to yourself back in the day. It's never too late...remember, "there's magic in the night."

www.DrivingJersey.com

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Driving Jersey
• New Jersey
• Bruce Springsteen
• Count Basie Theatre
• Carlton Theater
• Jersey Shore
• Red Bank
• NJ
• Steve Rogers
• Moses Butterworth
• Ryan Bott
• Showby Amantus
• The Following

[rloebe34]

Shit, I'm a college kid, 22 years old and a guitar player. Bruce(as well as the whole e street band) is a huge inspiration for me to keep jammin. Theres alot of old people in this video but trust me, a few of us young guns still have a lot of his old records n jam out tenth ave freeze out on a Friday night when the kegs are flowin!

[smazattack69]

mate The BOSS needs to come down under I luv the boss he makes life better come to New Zealand Brother

[backstreetsbev]

this is pretty cool. and I am all over this. WOW.

[ewetarzan]

why do i not remember this. well it was bev mostly!!