Imagine the scene: Barefoot on the beach, a perfect cool breeze coming in off the water, and there in front of tens of thousands of celebrants, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. That was last night, for a unique performance to conclude the 2024 Sea Hear Now Music Festival . The festival was spearheaded by rock photographer Danny Clinch in 2018; this was the first performance of the E Street Band. In order to be able to see Bruce and the band without the aid of giant video monitors, there were two basic options: either procure very limited and pricey "VIP" and "Platinum" tickets, or arrive many hours early to the 7th Avenue Beach where the Surf Stage was located. I arrived at the Surf Stage around 1:15pm; many had lined up before sunrise and no doubt would have done so earlier had it been permitted by event staff. Getting to the stage early also meant catching three preliminary acts: Joy Oladokun , Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Kool & the Gang , an...
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band was originally scheduled to play Camden Yard s in Baltimore on September 9th, 2023. The show was postponed for a year due to Bruce's peptic ulcer disease. Friday night, he and the band made up for it. Springsteen has a big show coming up Sunday evening on the beach in Asbury Park as the headliner of the SeaHearNow Music Festival . For this sweltering Friday evening, though, he gave full attention to Baltimore. The band came on stage almost exactly at the stated show time of 7:30. Given that Bruce's first top ten single "Hungry Heart " mentioned Baltimore in the first line, it was no surprise that Bruce opened with it, followed by another River fan favorite, "Sherry Darling." The audience took the first line of "Hungry Heart," and Bruce was down to the front of the stage and in to the crowd even before beginning his own singing. The two openers also gave opportunities for members of the band to shine, in par...
We went down to the courthouse Wednesday morning, and the judge issued the order: As of this day, which is also our second child's 18th birthday, our child shall be known as Ezra Stanley. We filed the order with the clerk, ordered the new birth certificates, and save for some administrative details, it's done. Name Day! The old name is sealed. It's still in the records, it's in this blog . This is the same person who once had a bat mitzvah, the same person who sang and danced with Bruce Springsteen , the same person who swore that unicorns are real and that they eat unicorn food. I will leave those bits of history untouched. This is also the same person who has made art under the old name and new, and the same person who made a mess of our kitchen while we were away on Tuesday, leaving us to discover the concealed chocolate disaster zone. The shift between what was and what is... in some ways that was very slow, and in some ways it was sudden. There were behavio...
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