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Portastatic "Growin' Up" "Bobby Jean" (live on WPRB) From the EP, Autumn Was a Lark
Spring's in the air today, feels like a good time for a doubleshot from our friends & neighbors at Merge Records. Superchunk has been known to break out "Born to Run" live; on record, Superchunk/Portastatic/Merge honcho Mac McCaughan offered up two Springsteen covers on Portastatic's 2003 EP, Autumn Was a Lark. "Growin' Up" is a full-band studio take (as Mac writes in the liner notes, the band was "undeterred by one punter's description of our cover of 'Growin' Up' as 'hilarious'"), and "Bobby Jean" is a solo acoustic version performed live on WPRB in Princeton, NJ.

Josh Ritter "The River" (live in Berlin) Unreleased, from German radio
In April of 2007, Josh Ritter was invited to participate in the Bruce Springsteen Tribute at Carnegie Hall in New York City. That night, before Bruce himself took the stage, Josh performed a chilling, solo acoustic version of "The River." Not captured in a recording, it has remained one of the most talked-about performances from that night. But while performing an encore in concert on September 12, 2007, Ritter broke out his rendition of "The River" again for the audience in Berlin. For more on Josh, visit his MySpace page and his official site at www.joshritter.com.

Automatic 7 "Atlantic City" From the LP, At Funeral Speed
For more on this L.A.-based power trio, check out their MySpace page and the Mental Records website.

Bruce Springstone "Bedrock Rap/(Meet) The Flintsones" "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" From the 12-inch single, Live at Bedrock
Bruce Springstone was created in the spring of 1982 by Baltimore musicians/songwriters Tom Chalkley and Craig Hankin. Bruce Springstone: Live at Bedrock was released in September '82 by Clean Cuts Records. The A-side features "Bedrock Rap/Meet the Flintstones," a parody of Springsteen singing the Flintstones theme; the B-side is a Springsteenesque arrangement of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," using the original 1908 lyrics. Chalkley does the lead vocals, Hankin plays rhythm guitar. Other musicians featured are John Ebersberger (drums), Ron Holloway (saxophone), Tommy Keene (lead guitar), Suzy Shaw (keyboards), and Gabor Lutor (bass). Hankin and Chalkley wrote the arrangements. Jack Heyrman produced the record which was engineered by Steve Carr at Hit & Run Studios in Rockville, MD. Chalkley and Ebersberger did the cover art. Both tracks are still in print on Rhino Records: "Bedrock Rap/Flintstones" on Dr. Demento's Greatest Novelty Records of All Time, and "Ballgame" on Baseball's Greatest Hits.