In carrying on my tradition of posting non-jazz related items, I must comment on this past weekend.

Some of you may know that I'm a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. Maybe you've caught Asbury Park at one of our gigs around town, or maybe you've read some old postings on our previous website. Nevertheless, Springsteen's music has been a huge part of my life going back nearly 25 years.

I must preface the comments that follow by saying that I've been fortunate enough to catch most of the major rock acts of the last couple decades live: The Eagles, The Who, Van Halen, Aerosmith, AC/DC, etc.... It's true, I was a rock guy before I became a jazz guy. In that time, I've also caught Bruce on 8 different occassions.

However, I've never had a musical experience quite like the one I had this past weekend. After playing the "official" Springsteen pre-part at Al Hrabosky's place with the rest of Asbury Park on Saturday, we all headed to the Scottrade Center for the man himself.

Springsteen came on at 8:45pm and didn't leave the stage until Midnight. Three-hours-and-fifteen minutes. Nonstop. Without a lot of talking in between tunes either.

The summer leg of Springsteen's tour has seen each show get longer, with rarities finding their way into the setlist via signs brought to the shows by the audience. Each nhight has had something totally different. For St. Louis, the band pulled out some stuff they hadn't played in more than 30 years, including a handful of classic rock-n-roll covers like "Mountain of Love," "Then She Kissed Me" and "Little Queenie" (it is St. Louis after all, so a nod to Chuck Berry was met with a roar).

Many diehard Bruce fans said it was the best show of the tour, and I've never heard the band sound better. It was an amazing experience, one that I didn't want to end. So what's better than one show? Two of course!

The following morning, I told my mother about the show and she was sorry she didn't get to go, so in my infinite wisdom, I said "you know, we could drive to Kansas City and see him tonight..." I was able to get good seats and off we went. Ironically, the first guy we met in the lobby of the hotel had come out to Hrabosky's the night before and remembered me from the band. Theres a comraderie with Springsteen fans that is unlike anything else I've experienced.

The KC show was great (almost as good as St. Louis), with one of the crowd signs reading "LET MAX SING!" For the first time in the band's history, Max Weinberg sang lead. That was worth the drive alone!

All told, a weekend for me that will go down as the greatest musical experience I've ever had. Thanks Bruce!