2023-10-28 Pollak Theatre, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ

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Scheduled: 16:00 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??

Info | Venue

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Bruce Springsteen joins the Springsteen Archives & Center For American Music's symposium celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle to speak with Robert Santelli about "Writing The Songs" and, alongside Vini Lopez, David Sancious, and Garry Tallent, about the making of the album with Tom Cunningham.

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On Stage

The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle 50th Anniversary Symposium

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Writing The Songs: A Conversation With Bruce Springsteen

• Robert Santelli
• Bruce Springsteen

The Making Of The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle Part 2

• Tom Cunningham
• Vini Lopez
• David Sancious
• Bruce Springsteen
• Garry Tallent

Setlist

1. 4TH OF JULY, ASBURY PARK (SANDY) ^{(Williams Honor: Reagan Richards - vocals, Gordon Brown - guitar and backing vocals)}
2. WILD BILLY'S CIRCUS STORY ^{(Wil Hercek - vocals, guitar, Mike Caruso - pedal steel)}
3. NEW YORK CITY SERENADE ^{(Pat Guadagno - vocals, guitar, David Sancious - piano, Richard Blackwell - percussion, Vini Lopez - backing vocals)}
4. INCIDENT ON 57TH STREET ^{(Adam Weiner - vocals, piano, Vini Lopez - backing vocals)}
5. ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) ^{(Pat Roddy Band with Lisa Lowell - backing vocals, Vini Lopez - backing vocals, percussion)}
6. KITTY'S BACK ^{(Pat Roddy Band with Garry Tallent - bass, Vini Lopez - drums, David Sancious - organ, Richard Blackwell - percussion, Lisa Lowell - backing vocals)}
7. THE E STREET SHUFFLE ^{(all previous musicians plus Albee Tellone - mandolin. Lead vocals by Pat Roddy, Wil Hercek, and Reagan Richards)}

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^{Bruce Springsteen does not participate in any musical performances at this event.}

Performances

^{incl. Rehearsals.}

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• 2024-04-24 Pollak Theatre, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
• 2017-09-22 Pollak Theatre, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
• 2017-09-19 Pollak Theatre, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ

Appearances

^{incl. Interviews and Recording-sessions.}

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• 2023-10-28 Pollak Theatre, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
• 2019-01-13 Pollak Theatre, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
• 2017-01-10 Pollak Theatre, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ

Cancelled

• 2023-04-15 Pollak Theatre, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ

Gallery

^{© All credits to the original photographer. We do not monetize a photo in any way, but if you want your photo to be removed, let us know, and we will remove it.}

Media

Recording

^{Sorry, no Recording available.}

Storyteller

^{Sorry, no Storyteller available.}

Eyewitness

Stan Goldstein

Not even sure where to begin to talk about today's "Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle" 50th Anniversary Symposium at the Pollak Theater on the campus of Monmouth University. It started at 9 a.m. and ended about 6:20 p.m. In that time there was nine different panels with Bruce Springsteen on two of them. There was also a music performance of each of the songs on the album at the end, Bruce didn't play on any of those. Maybe the highlight of dozens of highlights was when our own Tom Cunningham, who was moderating a panel with Bruce, Garry Tallent, David Sancious and Vini Lopez about the making of the album, mentioned that Patti Scialfa will be inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame tomorrow. Bruce then pulled out his own cellphone and asked everyone in the audience to say "Congratulation Patti!" and he filmed it for her to see. So let's talk about Bruce first. It was pretty well known he was going to be interviewed by Bob Santelli about the writing of the songs on the album. He came out to a standing ovation and a day that was already pretty special got taken to another level. There's a lot to cover, I did film some of it, and these are just some of my highlights from my notes: Bob asked Bruce how he was able to work so hard on this right after "Greetings" came out and Bruce said, "I was 24 years old!" Bruce said his first contract stipulated he was supposed to put out a new album every six months, Bruce said he wrote a lot of "the Wild & Innocent" while living in a garage apartment a block from the ocean, just down from the synagogue on Fifth Avenue in Bradley Beach (down the driveway at 205 Fifth Avenue for those who want to know!) Said he wrote "Sandy," "Incident on 57th Street" and "New York City Serenade" while living there. He talked a bit about the cover of "Greetings" how he found a postcard on the Asbury Park boardwalk and handed it in to the art director. He said for his second album he liked the way "The Wild & the Innocent" played off of "The E Street Shuffle" for the name. Also how the song "E Street Shuffle" was taken from Major Lance's "Monkey Time" and the end is like the end of "Move On Up" by Curtis Mayfield. The conversation shifted to Bruce talking about his first trip to California with Steel Mill in 1970 and he found bands who were better than "we were. We were good but not good enough." He said David Sancious "is an incredible musician" and when Boom Carter joined they were "a great little band. We swung a different way for about six to eight months." He said about the British Invasion: "I wasn't interested in the British part. I'm an American rock and soul artist who liked Roy Orbison, Motown and Stax records." Bob Santelli mentioned how Asbury Park's Convention Hall had some great shows in the 1960s: Rolling Stones, Doors etc. Bruce said he did see the Doors there and he saw The Who open for Herman's Hermits. He said parents who took their kids to see Herman's Hermits were stunned when the Who started breaking their instruments. "What the F is going on they were saying." Bruce said "Kitty's Back" was "a distorted piece of big band jazz" and mentioned how "Rosalita," "Thundercrack" and "Kittys' Back" were showstoppers. They showed footage of the band playing at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles in 1973 earlier in the afternoon and Bruce said they had to come out right after Edgar Winter played "Frankenstein." "Wild Billy's Circus" was inspired by him seeing the Clyde, Beatty Cole Bros. Circus as a child in Freehold and he was curious what went on the in the back alleys of the circus, where you couldn't go down. He said as a kid going to Asbury Park from Freehold was like going to Barbados. Asbury Park had rides and a beach and that was impressive to a kid from Freehold. "Incident on 57th Street" Bruce said was also written in Bradley Beach and that the song "romanticized his visions of New York City." He would go to the city just to get out of Freehold. That he and Steve Van Zandt would take the bus from Freehold to Greenwich Village. He mentioned Fourth Street, Bleecker Street and MacDougal Street. A funny story was when Bruce talked about skipping his high school graduation in 1967. He said he decided earlier in the day he wouldn't go to graduation or the party his parents were having with his relatives. He took a bus into Greenwich Village and somehow his parents track him down there. They told him to come home and everything would be OK. "It wasn't" Bruce said. He said he brought home a girl he met in the Village and that didn't go over well. Later his father sent him to his room and took out all the light bulbs so he had to sit in the dark. "That was my graduation day" Bruce said. Bruce said when they were in San Francisco at the Matrix in early 1970, he was peeing next to a guy and at the urinal the guy asked him where are you from? Bruce said, "New Jersey" and the guy said, "What's that?" "He didn't ask, 'Where's that?'" Bruce said. Bruce said he has never dealt with self doubt. When "Greetings" sold 23,000 copies, he was thrilled and wanted to know "Who are all these people buying it! I thought it was great." One of the earlier speakers was Luis Lahav who was the engineer for "The Wild & Innocent." Bruce gave him a shout out (Luis was sitting in the audience) and said "That record sounds great to this day. I put it in and played it today." Bruce summed it up by saying the album was where he "Finally was getting to express myself." Bruce was then on the next panel with David Sancious, Vini Lopez and Garry Tallent about the making of the album. Tom Cunningham did a great job of moderating this. It was a real privilege to hear and witness this. I wrote enough already but it was just so great to hear all four of them reminisce of the making of the album at 914 Studios in Blauvelt, New York. There were plenty of mentions about Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici too with some funny stories throughout the day. In an earlier panel, Vini Lopez talked about what it was like for Bruce and the band when they opened and then backed Chuck Berry at a show at the University of Maryland in 1973. Vini said how then Johnny Lyon (now better known as Southside Johnny) made the trip with them and Chuck brought him up onstage to play harmonica. Vini also told stories about what it was like opening for Chicago for a six-show stretch in 1973 including two shows at Madison Square Garden. "Chicago flew from town to town, we drove," he said. "We had 30 minutes to play each night, at the first Madison Square Garden show we played an encore, the second night they didn't let us." If I wrote about every panel, this would be longer than "War and Peace." We heard from Mike Appel, his brother Steve (who had hysterical stories), saw a video interview with Suki Lahav from Israel, heard from Nicki Germaine about her great book as well as Barry Schneier and Jim Cullen about their books, Danny Clinch hosted a panel with Russ Ceccola, brother of the late photographer Phil Ceccola, who shared some never before photos from his brother. Barry Schneier was also a part of the panel. Also Albee Tellone (the Kevin Buell of his day) and Richie Blackwell shared stories. The Symposium began with Monmouth U Professor Melissa Kozlowski Ziobro about this being 50 years later and Jim Cullen, Anthony DeCurtis and Louis Masur discussed what it was like in America in 1973. Next up was a "Setting the Scene" panel with author Peter Knobler, historian Ken Viola and Vini Lopez moderated by Rolling Stone's Brian Hiatt. Peter and Vini shared stories about when Bruce and the band played Sing Sing Prison in New York in 1972. Vini had a funny line at the end of this panel saying after the Wild & Innocent that the band was finally able to get out of Asbury Park and Freehold and get to Schenectady. The day closed with great musical performances including Williams Honor, Pat Roddy, Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie playing "Incident on 57th Street" and for me, the musical highlight was listening to David Sancious play the piano intro to "New York City Serenade" joined by Pat Guadagno, Richie Blackwell and Vini Lopez. It was an incredible day at Monmouth University. There were so many other great stories from all the panelist that I didn't even mention. The event was professionally filmed, so someday hopefully all will be able to see this. Thank you to Bob Santelli and Eileen Chapman and whomever else deserves credit for this. Everyone who was there will remember this for a long time. Even though this wasn't a Bruce Springsteen show, it's an event we will be bragging about for years that "We were there!"

Laura Casale

Hearing Bruce talk about my favorite song in the world (Incident on 57th Street), watching David Sancious play New York City Serenade in front of me and getting to meet him…what a peak life experience! Such a great event!

News/Memorabilia

^{© All credits to the original photographer. We do not monetize a photo in any way, but if you want your photo to be removed, let us know, and we will remove it.}

Links:

• There was a surprise guest at a Monmouth U. symposium on Springsteen — the Boss himself ^(App.)
• Bruce Springsteen Archives to host big 'Wild, Innocent, E Street Shuffle' symposium ^(App.)
• Springsteen Archives to Hold Symposium for 50th Anniversary of The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle ^{(NewJerseyStage)}
• Fifty years later, Bruce Springsteen & Co. look back on a wilder, more innocent time ^(NJArts)
• Springsteen Archives announces date for ‘Wild and Innocent’ symposium ^(NJArts)
• 50th Anniversary Of The Release Of The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle ^{(SpringsteenArchives)}

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