1972-12-00 Unknown Location
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Scheduled: ??:?? | Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??Early interview with legendary rock critic Paul Nelson. The interview is just shy of an hour, and it was conducted in December 1972, making it presumably Bruce's first interview with a national rock critic. The interview covers the following topics:
- The pending design for the Greetings album (he was also considering the cover being a shot of the band live);
- How he met Mike Appel;
- The Asbury Park music scene of the time and his former bands;
- His experience of playing in Virginia, including a near-encounter with 'The Confederate Angels' motorbike gang. A subsequent row within the band resulted in his trumpet player getting punched in the lip ('Which is not a good place to hit a trumpet player. He played that night… and made terrible noises and what's worse he didn't care! So I got rid of the horn section after that…';
- His epic cross-country drive from NJ to California to reach the gig on New Year's Eve 1969;
- The audition with John Hammond – and how Mike Appel nearly ruined it;
- The varying influences of James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Chuck Berry and Dylan on his writing and performance style;
- His experience of college – and how it clearly wasn't for him; and
- His approach to songwriting – including intriguingly a discussion about a long song (over 9 minutes and which featured 'a great solo' by Clarence) about failing in front of an audience, yet neither Nelson or Bruce himself can remember the name of the song. Bruce may be referring to "The Chosen", the only known uncirculating song from the Greetings sessions.
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