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October 6, 2023 She Came To Me, the film for which Bruce Springsteen wrote and recorded "Addicted to Romance" featuring Patti Scialfa, officially and exclusively opens in theaters today. (Click here to purchase tickets.) Here's the Letters To You review of and report on the film, along with an extra-deep dive into "Addicted to Romance"'s role in it, written by our contributing writer Caroline Madden, author of Springsteen as Soundtrack: The Sound of the Boss in Film and Television: Bruce Springsteen is certainly not the first musician you associate with the opera genre, but his original song in Rebecca Miller’s romantic dramedy She Came to Me, entitled “Addicted to Romance,'' harmonizes beautifully with this eccentric tale of a creatively stifled opera composer. Despite her "secret wish" to have Springsteen write the end-credits song, Miller told Variety she initially hesitated to ask him "because I felt it was so unlikely, and frankly I was a bit shy.” However, with encouragement from the film's composer, Bryce Dessner, Miller shared her film with Springsteen, and he was inspired to write "Addicted to Romance." The heartfelt song is mostly from the perspective of Peter Dinklage’s character Steven, a floppy-haired opera composer suffering from writer’s block, whose one-night stand with a tugboat captain named Katrina (a nearly unrecogonizable Marisa Tomei, who always excels at playing characters with a gritty edge) enlivens him with the creative spark he needs for his next production. He’s fascinated by her hardscrabble gumption and independence that juxtaposes his haughty, cosmopolitan social circle in Manhattan. “My muse, the music you whispered in my ear reminds me of who I am,” Springsteen rasps in the song, referencing this life-affirming, artistically invigorating romance between Steven and the fierce Katrina. A high-strung therapist with a cleaning compulsion, Steven’s wife Patricia sharply contrasts Katrina's dirt-under-the-fingernails type of woman. Anne Hathaway’s sophisticated performance avoids the stereotype of a nagging wife and makes Patricia's curious epiphany to become a nun feel genuine. In one sequence, Patricia lays down on a bed in the nun’s quarters and stares at the sunlight bouncing on the wall, absorbing the pristine, clutter-free life for which she's been searching. It’s one of the most unexpectedly beautiful moments in the film. The narrative of She Came to Me often has a theatrical quality, especially in the plotline of Patricia's son Julian (Evan Ellison,) his girlfriend Tereza (Harlow Jane,) her exaggeratedly villainous stepfather (Brian D’Arcy James,) and her well-intentioned but submissive immigrant mother, Magdalena (Joanna Kulig.) The story unfolds with dramatic coincidences and extravagant gestures that interconnect the characters, leading up to a finale that reunites the star-crossed lovers in a whimsical and convenient manner. This hammy yet undeniably charming conclusion seems ripped from the pages of one of Steven's operas. Bruce Springsteen’s “Addicted to Romance,” on the other hand, is quite the opposite of Steven’s flowery arias—a short but impactful ballad that mirrors the other parts of the film that feel like a more grounded character study. The song's title is derived from Katrina's admission of being a sex and love addict, often indulging in grand “romantic” gestures such as stalking or intense erotic encounters with strangers. Although some lyrics represent Steven's point of view, the choice of Bruce Springsteen, known for his empathetic portrayals of the working class, resonates more with Katrina's salt-of-the-earth character. Depicted as the "neighborhood's broken daughter" in Springsteen's song, Katrina mirrors many of his characters from Western Stars: lonely, transient individuals with a desperate need for companionship. The lyrical images of whiskey, a jukebox, and bonding over a cold beer vividly recreate Katrina and Steven's initial encounter in a dive bar - an ordinary, rustic setting often found in Springsteen's songs. The graceful simplicity of “Addicted to Romance” highlights the stark difference between Katrina's humble daily life and Steven's glamorous opera career, making her all the more fascinating to him. She Came to Me mirrors this disparity in the offbeat visual style that shifts between two distinct tones and storylines. These alterations, marked by changes in aspect ratio, result in an unconventional and somewhat challenging viewing experience. "Addicted to Romance" plays against an end-credits montage that unifies the characters as they enter the next chapter of their lives. As the tugboat gently bobs along New York City's late afternoon skyline, we hear Bruce Springsteen’s soft vocals accompanied by a minimal piano arrangement. His lyrics are wistful, capturing the bittersweet beauty of fleeting moments between loved ones that leave a lasting imprint on the heart. Patti Scialfa's delicate voice alongside Springsteen's rugged tone creates ethereal harmonies, layering the song with an intimate tenderness. Their voices blend together with the weather-worn sound of real-life lovers who have lived through countless hardships and happy days together. Scialfa is credited alongside Springsteen, solidifying "Addicted to Romance'' as a duet and mirroring the film’s themes of finding your perfect match. "Tonight I get all the love that I've missed, from you in just one glance... And if this isn't love, my dear, it's more than what we planned... more than just chance,” Springsteen and Scialfa sing, words that resonate deeply with Steven and Katrina's unexpected yet profound connection. Their meeting was serendipitous, but Steven finds himself completely captivated by her. The concluding strings orchestrated by Bryce Denner, combined with the choral elements, has a melancholic weight that reflects the unpredictable fragility of our lives, especially our romantic relationships. It's no surprise that Bruce Springsteen felt a connection to this film. He understands how love can hit you like a lightning bolt - both in your personal life and as an artist. As he grew older, themes of marriage and family took center stage in albums such as The River, Tunnel of Love, Lucky Town, and Working on a Dream. A departure from his typical milieu of Jersey Shore summers or blue-collar anguish, these songs reveal an unabashedly sentimental side of his artistry. His fascination with the splendors and difficulties of romantic relationships has lasted throughout his career. “Addicted to Romance” fits alongside other songs such as “My Beautiful Reward” and “Kingdom of Days” that celebrate the humble joys of sharing your life with a loved one. Rebecca Miller's film fluctuates between moments of subtle elegance and theatricality, reflecting the peculiar enchantment of falling in love. "Addicted to Romance,” on the other hand, is a steady anchor that solidifies the film’s romantic themes. Ultimately, She Came to Me is about how finding your partner is a bewildering and uncertain journey marked by turbulent emotions and high stakes, but also moments of gentle beauty. [For more on "Addicted to Romance," click here to read our initial report, posted upon the recording's official release.]

October 3, 2023 EDITOR'S NOTE: Just as we were readying our first-ever podcast, focused on Bruce Springsteen's female fans, we happened to hear from a bona-fide "newbie" female fan. Maggie Wheeler shared with us her first-hand account of how she became a newly obsessed fan during Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's stand in Chicago, just under two months ago. Check out Maggie's story below. And if you can be in Asbury Park, NJ this coming Saturday, consider yourself invited to attend a FREE presentation and book-signing event with our podcast's guests, Lorraine Mangione and Donna Luff, co-authors of Mary Climbs In: The Journeys of Bruce Springsteen's Female Fans. The event will take place on Saturday, October 7, beginning at 7pm, at Asbury Book Cooperative. Click here for more info and to secure your FREE event-ticket. "Baptized By Bruce" by Maggie Wheeler I was not a Bruce Springsteen fan. When “Born in the U.S.A.” first hit the airwaves, I was not interested in his music. Back then, I saw a musician whom I perceived as too commercial and East Coast elite, who didn’t speak to someone like me living in a “flyover state.” Admittedly, “Dancing in the Dark” is a catchy tune, and I admired how he plucked a girl from the audience to dance with him in the video (although I later discovered it wasn’t a random selection at all.) But John Mellencamp represented those who grew up in the Midwest like me. And “Rain on the Scarecrow” is an amazing song. John knows what life is like in the heartland. I married Ray in 2012, and though we’d known each other for years, we never talked a lot about our musical tastes. That he is a huge Bruce fan eluded me. I’m not sure why. Ray has Bruce box sets and CDs and books all over the house. But Ray scarcely talked about his fandom to me. It was stealth, private. Clearly, he sensed my disinterest. He never mentioned wanting to go to see the 2016 tour. Or maybe he did, and I paid zero attention. Looking back on this part of our marriage now, it all seems odd that he never shared with me something so important to him. But we had other things in common, like a passion for animal rescue, and that kept us busy, and still does. For us, that was enough. But in 2023, I knew Bruce was on tour because this time Ray talked about it. I knew Bruce was in Europe and would be back in the U.S. at some point. I knew Bruce fell on the stage stairs somewhere. I knew Bruce possibly had COVID and had to postpone several shows. Ray decided now was the time to make me listen. And he did. “Bruce is coming to Chicago,” he said as he emerged from his home office one day in the spring. I didn’t look up from my computer. “How old is he now?” “73.” I shrugged. “How much are the tickets?” “A lot.” I paused. “Listen, do it if you want to. He’s not getting any younger.” He went back into the office, and that was the last I heard until the day the tickets went on sale. Then I heard a loud expletive coming from the office. “They’re all gone.” I was sad for him, but I continued doing personal things and forgot about it until a few days later when my husband told me they’d added a second show. “Do it,” I told him again. He bought expensive tickets and started counting down the days until the show. I couldn’t even remember the exact date and he had to remind me multiple times. August arrived and, amidst the stress of going back to teaching at our local university, I didn’t want to go to this concert. I hoped I’d get sick. I hoped Bruce would postpone the show (since I knew he’d had earlier in the tour.) Something. Anything to get me out of this. To my disappointment, nothing prevented me from going. We took the train to Chicago like we’ve done at least twenty times since we’ve been together, and I prepared to endure for three hours. Then I’d go home and things would go back to normal. On concert day, August 11th, my anxiety about navigating the Red Line to Wrigley and getting back to our hotel again distracted me from my disinterest in going. After an event-free ride, we made it to Wrigley Field right as the doors opened and settled into our pricey seats. I relaxed. And sweated. And prepared for an okay time. The show started, and the venue ignited. My problem was I didn’t know any of the songs for the first part of the show, so the palpable energy moved past me with no impact. Instead, I amused myself by watching the audience reactions on the big screens and taking in the atmosphere while my husband became one with the crowd. Something happened between “Mary’s Place” and “Last Man Standing.” Bruce talked about the passing of the one remaining band member from his first band. “Death is about what is possible in this life now.” "Wait, Bruce is talking about life and death?," I asked myself. Not what I expected in a rock and roll show. I glanced at my husband. Nodding at me, he already knew that life and death and the joy of living were the threads through the songs on this tour. He had followed the set list and watched clips from many prior shows. To date, I have lost both parents, a best friend, many pets, and three close friends. For the first time, I knew what others already did: Bruce gets it. Bruce’s songs have depth and resonate on levels I hadn’t understood before. Because I never gave him a chance. Something inside me broke and healed simultaneously. The wave of emotional energy from the crowd that had been crashing around me during the first half of the show finally swept me away. Metaphorically, I was crowd surfing. I felt like a presence wrapped its arms around me. My knees buckled, and I held onto the seat in front of me to compose myself. I had to sit for “Backstreets” because I felt dizzy. Surrounded by the surge of energy that moved around and now through me, I needed to catch my breath and process what I’d experienced. My head pounded, but in the best way possible. I lost myself in introspection. I’ve been to over fifty concerts in my life, but I have never experienced a transformation like this. Not once. When I heard the opening of “Because the Night” it pulled me out of my head — and out of my seat. “He’s singing my favorite 10,000 Maniacs song,” I whispered to my husband, who laughingly corrected me. Wait, Bruce wrote that song? How did I not know that? I love the song, and Bruce wrote it. What other surprises were in store for me? After that, I listened more closely to the lyrics. I listened to my husband’s whispered explanations leading me out of the darkness. I danced to “Rosalita” and “Dancing in the Dark” (without thinking about Courtney Cox once.) When he played “I’ll See You In My Dreams,” I swallowed the baseball-sized lump in my throat. Now, I didn’t want the night to end. I didn’t want any of it to end. Everyone in Wrigley but I knew that this was the last song on the setlist, and I refused to believe it. The night was over, but it wasn’t. On the train ride the next day, I fought back tears. Something is wrong with me. When we got home, I sobbed. After I dried my eyes, I fought to understand why I felt so emotional. Why was I crying about a concert - about an artist - that 24 hours prior I didn’t even care about? I rationalized it as being tired, though I knew I wasn’t tired at all. When I woke up the next morning after a restless night of Bruce songs peppering my dreams, and I still felt like crying, I knew this was not a fluke. That morning, I surreptitiously watched YouTube concert videos like someone sneaking glances at porn. Later in the day, I realized I was being ridiculous. What are you ashamed of? As I fought back tears, I confessed to Ray, “I think that concert changed my freaking life.” Ray smiled at me. “I think that’s a common theme," he replied. "Let me send you something.” He went to his computer and sent me the link to a post from a Bruce Facebook fan group. A guy who had been at the concert on August 11th, posted that he “got it” now. Finally, I exhaled literally and figuratively; I wasn’t alone in this transformation. Though the feeling was new and uncomfortable, as change often is, it would soon fit like my favorite pair of boots. I’ve debated a career change for over a year, but I feared losing the stability the job offers. As I read the post Ray sent me, I kept thinking about Bruce’s words: “Death is about what we make of life now.” Maybe now was the time to launch a writing career. Is a dream a lie if it don't come true...? I didn’t want to know the answer to that question. When my husband came back into the room, he looked at me like he hadn’t in a long time. Something had shifted between us we now talk a lot about. But right then, the gravity of my personal evolution struck me. “Like, I’m not joking. This concert messed me up. Maybe now is the time to do what I love.” “Do it,” he said. No more wasted days. * For the next seven days, I watched concert videos on YouTube with my husband and listened to E Street Radio all day long in order to catch up on the fifty years of Bruceness I have missed. During the seven days after the concert, I wondered what would have happened if I’d gone to a show sooner. I asked myself if this conversion would have happened earlier. Immediately, I understood what happened at Wrigley Field on August 11th, 2023 was something special. I’m perfectly where I need to be. Bruce's music did that. I believe it’ll help to lead me forward the rest of the way. My life hasn’t gone back to “normal.” My new normal is powerful. I cried for seven days - and counting; I swam in the songs for seven days. For seven days - and counting - I understood more fully where I’m destined to be. Seeing the joy on my husband’s face when I ask him about song lyrics or a biographical detail about Bruce makes my heart sing. Not only was I transformed, but our marriage was, too. It’s an intimacy that we share with millions of other humans, and I am happy I now join my husband in it. When I enter a room and shout “No retreat, baby, no surrender,” he laughs. When I sing along to “Badlands” in the car, he joins in. Our membership in this "congregation" transcends the hard responsibilities we also share. On that seventh night, Ray told me, “I hoped this would happen, but I didn’t want to push you into it.” He led me to the ceremony and let me decide whether to immerse myself in the water. But I didn’t choose to be baptized; something chose it for me. Only those who’ve been to the river will understand. I saw Mellencamp perform recently. “Rain on the Scarecrow” is still awesome, and he rocked, as he always does. But this time, I exited a venue bone-dry.

October 1, 2023 Congratulations to our pals director Nick Mead and executive producer (and Letters To You website consultant) Brian Samelson on A Thousand Guitars taking home the Best Film award at The 2023 Portobello Film Festival! Nick and Brian previously collaborated in the same respective roles on the great documentary Clarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am? Click here to read more in our previous feature on A Thousand Guitars. And additional congrats go out to Nick on the official announcement and greenlighting of his next project: the documentary I Was A Teenage Sex Pistol, based on founding Sex Pistols member Glen Matlock's memoir of the same title. Click here to read The Hollywood Reporter's full report. Kudos to you, Nick, and never mind the bollocks! It's time to, as the Big Man himself would say, "order the good wine."

September 29, 2023 The soundtrack-album for writer-director Rebecca Miller's quirky romantic-comedy She Came To Me, starring Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway, and Marisa Tomei, is now officially available. It includes a sweet new ballad written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen entitled "Addicted to Romance." The Springsteen track is currently available for purchase only by buying the entire soundtrack album. (CORRECTION: The track is now available for purchase as a single, standalone track - credited to "Bruce Springsteen & Patti Scialfa" - without purchasing the entire soundtrack album. Click here for purchasing options.) An official VEVO lyric-video also is now available, and we have it for you right here: Springsteen's song gets its title from a line spoken by one of the film's characters, and it plays over the film's closing credits. "Addicted to Romance" was produced by Ron Aniello and The National's Bryce Dessner, who also composed She Came To Me's score as well as all of the diegetic opera heard in the film that is "composed" by Peter Dinklage's character. Bruce's lead vocal is backed beautifully by Patti Scialfa, multi-tracked. Additional production info for "Addicted to Romance:" Orchestrated by Bryce Dessner Keyboards: Ron Aniello Trombone: Benjamin Lanz Trumpet: Kyle Resnick Orchestra conducted by André de Ridder Violins 1: Perceval Gilles (solo), Doriane Gable, Mathieu Handschoewercker, Clara Jaszczyszyn Violins 2: Gaëlle-Anne Michel, Thibaut Maudry, Stéphanie Padel, Elsa Moattie Violas: Sarah Chenaf, Benachir Boukatem, Marine Gandon Cellos: Thomas Durand, Barbara Lelièvre, Pablo Tognan Double Bass: Odile Simon Flute: Gladys Avignon Oboe: Philibert Perrine Clarinet: Amaury Viduvier Bassoon: Rafael Angster Horns: Nicolas Ramez, Solène Souchères Trumpet: Javier Rossetto Recorded at Stone Hill Studio, New Jersey, 3 September 2022 Recording Engineer: Rob Lebret Mixing Engineer: David Chalmin Mastering Engineer: Martyn Heyne Click here to read Variety's exclusive February 2023 report on how Rebecca Miller came to have "Addicted to Romance" close her film. And we'll have much more right here on She Came To Me and "Addicted to Romance," in our in-depth report/review from Letters To You's contributing writer and film-scholar Caroline Madden, once the film hits theaters next weekend beginning on Friday October 6.

September 27, 2023 ...just in case you haven't heard yet. Best wishes for continued improvement, Bruce! We look forward to seeing you onstage again when you're ready to return.

September 23, 2023 Well, it's past midnight on 9-23-2023 in New Jersey (where the state's celebrating its first-ever official Bruce Springsteen Day,) so...Happy 74th Birthday, Bruce! Best wishes for many, many more happy birthdays ahead, too. And here to mark the occasion appropriately is a very special song for the birthday boy. Amazingly, it sounds like it was written especially for you on this day, Bruce, though in reality it originally was written by Tom Hambridge and Gary Nicholson for blues legend Buddy Guy, who recorded it (and released it on a Grammy-winning, blues-and-rock-charts-topping album coincidentally entitled Living Proof) back in 2010 when he was "74 Years Young:" By the way, Birthday Boy Bruce, can't you just hear yourself and the E Street Band delivering one tasty, nasty cover of this scorcher when you're back on stage at last? It could even make a fine addition to ...Covers, Vol. 2, eh? Oh, and speaking of fineness, the now-87-years-young Buddy Guy and his band also will be playing in Red Bank, NJ next Saturday night. Just sayin'... In any case, Happy Birthday, Bruce, and thanks for all of the great music over the years, including this year, of course. We hope you continue to recover, feel better ASAP, and keep that great music comin' for many more years to come. To paraphrase what Buddy Guy sings in "74 Years Young," when it comes to lovin' you, we ain't ever done.

September 20, 2023 EDITOR'S NOTE: You'd think that since the late, great Obie Dziedzic was identified by Bruce Springsteen himself as his original fan, the significance and impact of women in Springsteen fandom would be something more highly recognized and understood. Nevertheless, Springsteen's female fans and their importance still haven't gotten anywhere near the recognition - especially on a scholarly level - that they merit. Like women who are fans of many other musicians and bands, their voices and perspectives too often go underappreciated, if not ignored completely. College professors Lorraine Mangione and Donna Luff's book Mary Climbs In: The Journeys of Bruce Springsteen's Women Fans, published in June by Rutgers University Press, is a major step in changing that reality. Luff and Mangione conducted in-depth, qualitative-research surveys of approximately 2,000 female Springsteen fans. Selected excerpts from the fans' responses are woven throughout the book, illuminating both the commonalities and the diversities to be found in the experiences of being a woman who loves Bruce Springsteen's music, in ways that are deeply powerful, moving, sometimes funny, and always interesting. For our first-ever podcast, Letters To You invited London-based journalist Herpreet Grewal, who wrote about Mangione's and Luff's book for The Guardian last July, to conduct an even more in-depth conversation with Mangione and Luff earlier this month. Each of the two authors also chose a passage from their book to read aloud. We at Letters To You are honored and excited to make our first podcast available for everyone to listen at our newly launched SoundCloud and YouTube platforms:

[Part 2 of 2] September 20, 2023 EDITOR'S NOTE: Here at last is Part 2 of a 2023 Tour deep-dive from Greg Drew of E Street Radio. (You can click here to read Part 1, if you haven't done so already.) Once again, Greg has been kind enough to allow us to share here his script and setlist for each episode from his double-shot of episodes of his Legendary E Street Band show, in adapted form. Enjoy! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to this month's edition of Legendary E Street Band. I'm your host, Greg Drew. Today's episode is Part Two of our examination of the "RIGHT NOW" - the songs being played on the 2023 tour. As you might recall, the last show focused on the songs that are being played regularly at every or nearly every show. Today, I'm going to play some of the more infrequent offerings from throughout the tour, starting with one I was lucky enough to witness. Along with my partners in crime, Jim Rotolo and Vinnie Usuriello, I was in the lobby of the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ for a live pre-show broadcast on E Street Radio. Because we were starting the broadcast before they opened the doors for the general public, things were pretty quiet in the building and we were able to hear amp and mic checks coming from the arena. And then, lo and behold, we heard the beginnings of a soundcheck and rehearsal. As a fan of the '92-'93 era, I recognized the song immediately. I was delighted to hear Bruce singing one of the great self-deprecating songs of all time, and with the E Street Band, no less! May I remind you that a lot of rock stars REALLY aren't into self-deprecation...quite the opposite, in fact...but I digress. And, of course, I was instantly reminded of why I've been telling people for nearly fifty years that not only is this the best live show in rock, but a Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band show is also one of the greatest live-entertainment experiences one can have. The fact that he threw in "Jersey Girl" during the encore is not that big a surprise, but opening with "Local Hero" [April 14, 2023 - Newark, NJ]? "LOCAL HERO?! " That's about as perfect as you can get. After "Local Hero," you heard "My Love Will Not Let You Down" [July 13, 2023 - Copenhagen, Denmark]. That was the opening song in Jersey the first night of the US reunion tour in 1999 and has gotten a quite a bit of play through Europe. And while those two songs might lead one to believe that the shows are all love songs and laughs - no, no, no! These next three songs show that Bruce and the band still have the edge, the anger, and the rage that has endeared them to so many of us for so long. We'll begin with "Death to My Hometown" [July 8, 2023 - London, England], followed by "Darkness on the Edge of Town" [May 7, 2023 - Dublin, Ireland], and "Trapped" [August 11, 2023 - Chicago, IL]. I've included these next two songs as a pair (though the first one admittedly isn't an actual "rarity" on this tour) because they are so different from their album versions, and they spotlight the entire ensemble. "Johnny 99" [April 3, 2023 - Brooklyn, NY] has been transformed into a full band rave-up for a while now, but the addition of the horns takes it up another notch. And "It's Hard to Be A Saint in the City" [April 3, 2023 - Brooklyn, NY] also was performed in Brooklyn, where I have it on good authority it is very hard to be anything approaching a saint. It features that great Bruce-and-Stevie guitar duel, which I love, as well as some impressive work by the Professor, and Max killing it on the hi-hat. I guess if you play a song for fifty years or so, you can turn it into this. A while back, I did an episode of this show entitled "The World's Greatest Bar Band," where I featured the band doing their best sweaty-Saturday-night-club work. There hasn't been a lot of that on this tour, but Boston was treated to an old standby. Complete with an appropriate Stevie garage-rock vocal, Bruce demonstrating his knowledge of sixties guitar riffs, an appropriately garage-y harmonica solo, and a bunch of humorous commentary, here's "Dirty Water" [March 20, 2023 - Boston, MA]. These next two songs feature some amazing solos by two of my favorite musicians. When Bruce pulled out "Racing in the Street" [June 26, 2023 - Gothenburg, Sweden], the entire band played it beautifully but the instrumental coda allowed Roy Bittan to once again remind people why he's one of the greatest players in popular music. And I know I speak for many when I say I was thrilled when I saw that Bruce had included "If I Was The Priest" [February 21, 2023 - Tulsa, OK] and in a couple of other shows, but what I wasn't prepared for was Stevie's extended solo at the end. Most of his solos are quite structured into the songs - "The Promised Land" and "Jungleland," for example - so to hear him get an extended chance to go off and play his ass off was marvelous. I hope these two songs make a reappearance in the States. I have one more song for you, and here's why I've saved it for last... It's a song the band has played hundreds of times, if not yet more than a thousand times, in the nearly fifty years since its release. They hadn't been playing it on the tour's first leg; Bruce brought it out for the Madison Square Garden show. But there was no "going through the motions," no skating through the song you know the crowd is going to adore, no matter how well you play it. We've all seen that with classic bands playing their hits but not THIS band - NO, they brought their A-game. Great solos from Soozie and Steve, Charlie and Jake filling in admirably for Danny and the Big Man, Garry holding down the bottom end, and Max and Roy doing some subtle tempo changes to bring even more drama to an already dramatic song, all the while embellishing their already-great parts. And, of course, the Garden crowd provided the background vocals when requested. But for me, the biggest revelation of all was the man himself: Bruce singing the song as if he had just written it, it was new and fresh, not an old classic he was doing out of obligation. It was a vocal performance that, quite frankly, I'm amazed by, and I hope you find it as inspiring as I did. From the World's Most Famous Arena, here's "Jungleland" [April 1, 2023 - New York, NY]. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legendary E Street Band's "The 2023 Tour - Part 2 (The Rarities)" edition will air two more times this week, exclusively on E Street Radio (SiriusXM channel 20) with its airplay scheduled as follows (all times ET): Thursday, September 21 - 6 pm Saturday, September 23 - 5pm SiriusXM subscribers also can listen on-demand/online via the SiriusXM app.

August 30, 2023 As announced officially this morning, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's two recently postponed Philadelphia concerts have been rescheduled for August 2024. All tickets from the postponed concerts will be valid for the new dates. Tickets for the Wednesday, August 16, 2023 show will be valid for the Wednesday, August 21, 2024 show and tickets for the Friday, August 18, 2023 show will be valid for the Friday, August 23, 2024 show. Click here for further details, including information on how to request a refund for previously purchased tickets, if you wish to do so. (If you do not request a refund by September 29, 2023, your tickets will remain valid for the rescheduled date.) The official confirmation of these rescheduled dates also gives us our first solid indication of how next year's touring cycle may be shaping up, since it seems highly unlikely that Springsteen and his touring organization have arranged these Philly make-up dates to be one-off outliers in their touring schedule. A much more likely scenario is that the August 2024 shows in Philly will be part of a larger set of yet-to-be-announced August 2024 concerts here in the U.S. Furthermore, the fact that the rescheduled Philly shows will take place so late in the summer of 2024 could be seen as an indicator that more shows in Europe and/or other non-U.S. locations will take place earlier in Summer 2024, in a cycle similar to this summer's touring schedule. Such a cycle also would be in accordance with the general plan that Bruce himself related to E Street Radio's Jim Rotolo when the 2023 tour was announced officially back in May 2022: "We've got an old-school tour planned, where we'll be out there for quite a while to give everybody a chance to see us if they'd like to. We're going to rehearse in January, start in the States in arenas at the beginning of February, run that through April. Then head over to Europe through the beginning of August, and come back to the States play a few stadium shows outside. We're eventually going to get to Australia and New Zealand, and back around again. So it's an old-school E Street Band lengthy tour that we're going to be involved in, and everybody's very excited about it."

September 14, 2023 It was thirty-nine years ago this month that Bruce Springsteen began his long-standing tradition of embedding support for a locally-based organization, usually one engaged in anti-hunger work, within virtually every show thereafter on his concert tours. In late September of 1984, after his two Pittsburgh Civic Arena stops on the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, Springsteen donated $10,000 to the United Steelworkers of America Local 1397 food bank, after dedicating to Local 1397 during one of the Pittsburgh shows his performance of "The River" (a song directly inspired by experiences within Springsteen's own family, who also struggled financially during Bruce's childhood and adolescence.) Just under a month later, starting with his two October 1984 Tacoma Dome concerts in Washington, he also began allowing the grassroots organizations to set up tables and accept donations inside each venue, taking a moment during each concert to inform his audience of each group's representatives' presence in the building, and encouraging the audience-members to support the group's ongoing work, as well. Since that time, at almost every Springsteen concert on almost every tour, he has continued to spotlight and support organizations that he believes are working to address many of the same key concerns addressed in his songs, and to help make a reality the ideals about which he sings. "There's something really dangerous happening to us out there," Bruce said onstage just before performing the version of "The River" he dedicated to Local 1397 at that September '84 Pittsburgh show. "We're slowly getting split up into two different Americas. Things are getting taken away from people that need them and given to people that don't need them, and there's a promise that's getting broken. In the beginning the idea was that we all live here a little bit like a family, where the strong can help the weak ones, the rich can help the poor ones. I don't think the American dream was that everybody was going to make it or that everybody was going to make a billion dollars, but it was that everybody was going to have an opportunity and the chance to live a life with some decency and some dignity and a chance for some self-respect." At the most recent concerts by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - the three-show "homecoming" stand that ran through Labor Day Weekend 2023 at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium - support was given to three different anti-hunger organizations, with each of these organizations getting spotlighted and supported on a one-per-show basis: WHYHunger, Fulfill/Monmouth & Ocean, and The Community FoodBank of New Jersey. Letters To You recently got to speak with Sammy Steinlight, who is a key member of Fulfill/Monmouth & Ocean's "Shore to Rock Hunger" committee, as well as a former and longtime member of Fulfill's Board of Trustees. Steinlight has worked closely with other key Fulfill colleagues, like current Board of Trustees member Rena Levine-Levy and "Shore to Rock Hunger" Committee co-chair Jeremy Neuer, around connecting Fulfill with the Jersey Shore music scene. In addition to the support for Fulfill that Springsteen provided at his September 1st MetLife Stadium concert, last year he gave to Fulfill his permission to create special shirts with his famous quote, "Remember, in the end, nobody wins unless everybody wins" (preserved for posterity in the official Live/1975-85 music-video for "Born to Run.") "Fulfill sold thousands of shirts with proceeds going to our organization," Steinlight told us. "Each shirt purchased helped to deliver sixty meals to those in need in New Jersey's Monmouth and Ocean Counties." The shirt remains available for purchase and has since expanded into a variety of styles and apparel options. Click here to shop and place your orders. Steinlight also informed us of the many other successful "Shore to Rock Hunger" campaigns that Fulfill has waged, working with other well-known Jersey-Shore-connected musicians and friends. Last May, for the first time ever, Fulfill held an all-star "Shore to Rock Hunger" concert at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, NJ. The event was a successful fundraiser for Fulfill, which reached its goal of being able to provide one million additional meals to those in need at the Jersey Shore. "We honored three people," said Steinlight, "who have been incredibly generous to Fulfill over the years: Tom Cunningham, who has supported Fulfill for the past seventeen years with his annual all-requests-for-donations edition of his popular Springsteen on Sunday weekly radio show on the Sunday before Thanksgiving; Jeff Kazee, keyboardist and Music Director for Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, who raised over $26,000 during the COVID-19 lockdown period with his online all-request 'Living Room Lounge' fundraisers; and Jersey-based rocker Brian Kirk, whose various fundraising performances for Fulfill have raised over $23,000." "Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes," Steinlight added, "with special thanks to Southside, Joe Prinzo and Jeff Kazee, also have invited Fulfill to collect donations at their Stone Pony and Basie Center shows, and let a rep from Fulfill be on stage to talk about the organization. Richie 'LaBamba' Rosenberg did the same thing at his Big Band show at the Pony last year. Adam Weiner, of Low Cut Connie fame, did the same at his Pony show last year, and will be doing the same at his December shows in Asbury this upcoming season. Tony Pallagrosi was generous enough to invite Fulfill to be the beneficiary at Glen Burtnik's Holiday Show last year at the Basie. Fulfill CEO Triada Stampas was onstage to receive an amazing check donation of $10,000." All funds raised by Fulfill go towards funding its various anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs, including its Senior Food programs, Kids' Feeding programs, and Mobile Pantries programs. "Fulfill is on the front lines," Bruce Springsteen told his audience at the September 1st MetLife Stadium concert, "doing God's work... Give them a hand." Kelly Watts, Fulfill's Vice President of Development and External Relations, later said, "We were thrilled to have the opportunity to collect donations at Bruce Springsteen's show at MetLife stadium on September 1st. We know that Bruce's fans are always so responsive to his shout-out for them to support the local food banks. Our team of volunteers had a great night and we were fortunate to receive so many donations -- of all sizes. It will truly help us in our fight to end hunger in Monmouth and Ocean Counties." Click here to donate and support Fulfill/Monmouth & Ocean.

September 13, 2023 Our friend Nick Mead, the filmmaker behind the great 2019 documentary Clarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am? (which remains available to stream at Amazon and at Apple TV,) recently informed us that his newest project, A Thousand Guitars, will premiere this Saturday night in London at The Muse Art Gallery, as part of the 2023 Portobello Film Festival. A Thousand Guitars, Nick tells us, is unlike anything he's done before. "Not quite sure if it's a film," he says, "more a forever tour of inspirational guitar players, talking it up." Indeed, Mead has spent years collecting conversations with various famous musicians, discussing their most beloved instruments. Among those he's interviewed to date - both the living and some now dearly departed - are Glen Campbell, Jose Feliciano, Peter Frampton, Arlo Guthrie, Dhani Harrison, Susanna Hoffs, Lemmy Kilmister, Nils Lofgren, Jeff Lynne, Jesse Malin, Les Paul, Joe Perry, Vicki Peterson, Pete Seeger, Slash, Harry Dean Stanton, Chris Stein, Hubert Sumlin, Richard Thompson, Brian Wilson, and Bill Wyman. "Not sure if it will ever be completed," Nick muses, "more added to by the month." Part of the reason for that, he admits, is how much during the filmmaking process he sometimes has found greater pleasure in "the journey, not necessarily the destination. For example, I couldn't find any manager for Pete Seeger but heard that Pete lived in Beacon, New York. So I went there and got his address from a mailman. Pete wasn't in, but his dog was roaming around, and I got his number off his dog's collar. The 'cost' of an interview with him was my assistance in laying a concrete floor with him for his sloop club on the Hudson, where he had a sloop called Woody Guthrie and took kids out on it and taught them socialism." Mead finds A Thousand Guitars very difficult to place into any of the more typical categories of documentary films. "Maybe it's an ongoing living temple to musical inspiration," he's observed, "more of an alive thing rather than a film that is finished. It's perpetually a work in progress and is an ever-evolving thing, as people continue to want to step up and share their inspiration, motivation, dedication and desperation. As I said, I'm not sure if it's a film or an historical document." Nick quickly and humbly adds, however, "The response from the Portobello Film Festival seems to indicate it might be a film." Indeed, not only will A Thousand Guitars close the Festival's Saturday night screening of international films, but it also will be eligible to compete for a Golden Trellick award at the Festival's Grand Awards Ceremony on the following evening. Congratulations and best of luck to both Nick and A Thousand Guitars' executive producer, our own Letters To You website consultant, Brian Samelson! Readers who will be in the London area this weekend can attend both the Portobello Film Festival screening of A Thousand Guitars and the Festival's Grand Awards Ceremony free of charge. Click here and here for further details.

Courtesy of concert-photographer extraordinaire René van Diemen: the final shot he took at last Tuesday night's show in Monza, Italy, a beautiful image of Bruce Springsteen leaving the stage after performing his solo-acoustic version of "I'll See You In My Dreams." Before Springsteen began singing the moving show-closer, he said to his audience, "This is our last night in Europe. I want to thank all of our European fans who came out to see us, all of our Italian fans. Had an incredible time; we'll be back!" July 30, 2023 From this weekend's official press-release: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND’S EUROPEAN STADIUM TOUR CALLED "THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH" (BILLBOARD) WITH MORE THAN 1.6 MILLION TICKETS SOLD CAREER HIGHS CONTINUE WITH SPRINGSTEEN'S RETURN TO NORTH AMERICA FOR 31 TOUR DATES KICKING OFF AUGUST 9 Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band’s triumphant return to Europe was met with over a million and a half tickets sold, and widespread praise as the best shows of the band’s career. With a finale to over 70,000 in Monza, Italy; the fourteen-country tour included multi-night stands in each of Barcelona, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Gothenburg, Oslo, London and Copenhagen. In London’s Hyde Park, Springsteen and The E Street Band performed to over 130,000 across two nights - backed by The E Street Horns and The E Street Choir - with The Telegraph declaring “Springsteen is at the peak of his powers” in a five-star review, and USA Today urging audiences to “run, don’t walk, to see Springsteen” when he returns to North America next month. That momentum will continue with 31 more tour dates before the end of the year, beginning with two nights at Chicago’s Wrigley Field on August 9 and 11 and wrapping at San Francisco’s Chase Center on December 10 and 12. Multiple-night runs are also scheduled for Philadelphia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Los Angeles. The release listed all of the upcoming U.S. dates, which of course remain listed at Springsteen's official website, as well, with the official links for purchasing whatever tickets still remain for each upcoming concert. And finally, the release included these four stunning photos from the 2023 European tour, taken by Springsteen's official concert photographer, Rob DeMartin: