Bruce and the Boys

“Turn the station to Letterman. That guy you like, the one who wears the do-rag, is on the show.” That’s my mom calling to tell me that Steven Van Zandt is sitting in the guest seat talking to Dave. Good ol’ mom…always keeping me abreast of rock star sightings. She may not have remembered the … Read more

Thanks to Bruce Springsteen’s former security man Jim McDuffie we have a list of some of the items thrown onstage at The Boss’s Madison Square Garden concert on December 18, 1980. One bedsheet with the words Merry Christmas, Bruce Springsteen One stuffed dog Five Santa Claus hats, three of them stenciled Bruce One box of … Read more

When tickets went on sale this past spring for the Rod Stewart/Stevie Nicks July 28 “Heart and Soul” show at Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center, I took pause. I’ve adored Rod since his earliest days in the music biz, when he sang his heart out with Brit bands like Long John Baldry’s Hoochie Coochie Men, The … Read more

Jimmy Cagney, hat brim low over his eyes, talking wise to Joan Blondell. Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall picking pockets in The Bowery. Platinum angels with arched, pencil-thin eyebrows, sipping bathtub gin and waiting in vain for their square-jawed mugs to return from the hoosegow. Sharpies named Ace and Lefty. Dames named Ruby and Peaches. … Read more