Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Happy Birthday Moma! Love you!!

I searched long and hard to find the perfect Bruce clip, and for me, this one shows exactly what Bruce is all about! First of all, whenever you get a chance just look at the crowd. They are going nuts begining to end. It is entertainment in itself to see people react to his show, it is impossible not to be rocked. Second, has one man ever single handedly made a tamborine and a saxaphone so damn cool? I don't think so. Clarence Clemens is a legend. Period. Third, when they get the entire arena going, humming that melody, it is contagious. I can hardly explain it, and I'm sure Mom will vouch for me, the only way I can think to put it is that it is totally and completely consuming. Keep you eyes out for the signature Badlands fist pump. This 9 man band keeps tens of thousands of people simultaneously on the edges of their seats....wait...theres not a damn person in their seat...but you get the idea. They make the audience go until they can't go anymore - and then they transition right into the next song. Ahhhh, I wish I could drag each and every person I know to a Springsteen concert, then you would know what I'm talking about.

My Office Playlist

There have been some great new music releases over the past few months, so I thought it would be a good time for another edition of "My Office Playlist." Here are the albums playing constantly in my office right now, along with my favorite tracks from each:

Kanye West - Graduation
(Everything I Am, Homecoming, Flashing Lights)

Jill Scott - The Real Thing: Words & Sounds Vol. 3
(The Real Thing, Hate On Me)

Talib Kweli - Ear Drum
(The Nature, Oh My Stars)

Calvin Richardson - 2:35 PM
(Keep On Pushin', I've Got To Move)

Will.I.Am - Songs About Girls
(Over, Heartbreaker)

Bruce Springsteen - Magic

Common - Finding Forever
(Drivin' Me Wild)

What are you listening to???

Bruce & The Band on the Today Show

I highly suggest you check this out, along with the other clips from this morning's Today Show Concert.

Bruce Springsteen - The Promised Land

Oh, Oh Ohhhh, It's 'Magic'!

'Magic,' Bruce Springsteen's new studio recording and his first with the E Street Band in five years, is set for release by Columbia Records on October 2, 2007. Produced and mixed by Brendan O'Brien, the album features eleven new Springsteen songs and was recorded at Southern Tracks Recording Studio in Atlanta, GA.

'Magic' is the first new studio album by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band since 2002's GRAMMY Award-winning, multi-platinum, number one album 'The Rising' (Columbia Records), which was also produced by O'Brien.

Yup, thats right, a new Album by Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. I am pretty riled up about this. Look forward to some more "Better Know The E-Street Band" features and pleanty of updates as a US and World Tour are announced.

No Surrender

This is my tribute to the 2007 Beavs baseball team. They always have a sign taped up in their dugout that says "No Surrender" & I can't help but think this is the perfect theme song. Plus, they play just about as hard as Bruce rocks out. Which is pretty hard to do.

You can see The Beavs in the CWS championship series this weekend. If you miss it, you're missing O-State history. I have personally predicted the complete implosion of the town of Corvallis in the event that the Beavs repeat as National Champs. People running naked in the streets, cars tipped over, full on riots. Pure insanity. I can't wait to see it.

Better Know The E Street Band

Yes! It's that time again, time to increase your E Street Band awareness. This week is.....drumroll please......

Danny Federici

Also known as "Phantom" and "Miami Dan", Danny Federici is one of the members of the E Street Band who goes back the very farthest with The Boss. Watch out for his killer organ, keyboard, accordion, and most impressively, electronic glockenspiel skills.

Danny has always been one of the more anonymous members of the band, fitting for a man sometimes known as "Phantom." He earned the nickname long before the E Street Band, when he played in a band with Springsteen called "Steel Mill." The story goes that one night in the middle of a show he mysteriously disappeared from the stage just as police came to have a talk with him regarding a fight he had been involved in.

Check Danny out in the old school E Street Band picture above, he is the funny looking guy with long hair on the bottom right.

He reportedly had somewhat of a feud back in the day with former E Street Band member, David Sancious (keyboard & guitarist) who would constantly comment on Danny's playing and try to be "the boss" of him.

• As a side note, legend has it that the E Street Band took it's name from a street in Belmar, New Jersey where Sancious' mother lived, because she allowed them to rehearse in her home.

Looks like Danny got the last laugh however, as Sancious left the band before they really hit it big, and to this day it is considered debatable wheather or not Sancious was actually a founding member of the E Street Band or not.

Better Know the E Street Band

It's a sad but true fact, that these days, the level E Street Band awareness is at an all time low. So I have personally taken the liberty to use this blog as a platform for increasing the E Street Band knowledge of the world.

Today I will be starting with the cornerstone, the frontman for the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen (a.k.a. The Boss). Now it may be called Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, and Bruce may have gone off on his own a time or two, but he has never been better than when is with the E Street Band.


Best known for "rocking out", squinting painfully when he sings, and awesome leg kicks with his guitar. He also plays a mean harmonica. He is a true rock star - and proved it by hooking up with his hot backup singer, leaving his wife and then marrying the background singer. He has sometimes been accused of mumbling when he sings.

Look forward to future editions of Better Know the E Street Band, as we take a peek into the lives of the rest of the E Street Band members: Clarence Clemens, Danny Federici, Roy Bittan, Patty Scialfa, Max Weinberg, Steven Van Sant, Nils Lofgren, and Garry Tallent.