TheWrap.com offers a lengthy run-down of Springsteen's "Toronto Domination Tour," including this Mavericks exchange:

"Martin Scorsese once said that the artist's job is to get the audience to care about your obsessions," said Springsteen, who pointed out that the artists who succeed are often the ones who go to extremes, "who care enough to get crazy about it."

He nodded toward Norton, a friend for more than a decade. "It's the way you work,” Springsteen told the notoriously difficult actor. "You get nuts."

Norton laughed. "There are many who will attest to that," he conceded.

Of the The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, The Wrap writes: "The film gives a sense of the ways in which creativity can be tested and challenged, and the ways in which a strong artist can persevere — and by the time it comes to a close with a montage of faces set to the final section of 'Racing in the Street,' the finest instrumental coda in Springsteen's repertoire, it's hard to imagine that any fan won't be moved."

PRICE DROP: VINYL VERSION OF THE PROMISE SLASHED IN HALF
Didn't three figures seem like a steep price to pay for a four-LP set? Yeah, we thought so too — and it looks like we weren't the only ones. Sony has taken a second look and reconfigured their vinyl release of The Promise as a three-LP set (still on heavy, 180-gram vinyl) with a much more reeeeasonable list price of $55. With our 10% off pre-sale price, that brings your bill down to $49.50.

Pre-order now in our online shop!

And don't worry: anyone who already pre-ordered the vinyl from us will only be charged the new $49.50 price, once we get ready to ship in November.
- September 16, 2010

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: MAVERICK
In conversation with Ed Norton at TIFF 
The Bruce Springsteen record that became Darkness on the Edge of Town arrived out of a "search for a purposeful work life," as Springsteen told Edward Norton in the interview the actor conducted with him as part of the Toronto International Film Festival's Maverick series on Tuesday evening.

The interview lasted about 70 minutes, and both stars wore almost identical outfits. There was a wide range of topics, including the influence of film on Springsteen's work, the realization that you have a platform to express important issues to a fan base, the origins and influences of the new direction Springsteen's music would take, and the growing connection to political reality contained within Springsteen's songwriting.

Norton began by referencing the changing tone of Bruce's work that Darkness is known for. He noted that Bruce was one of the first people to "look at the darkness in the country and get your audience to come there with you," and he asked Bruce how he gained the confidence to think his audience would follow him to such a difference place. "Blues did it first," Springsteen answered. "And Dylan went there with 'Highway 61,' which gave me the first portrait of how the country felt."

When Norton asked about current artists that Springsteen enjoys, he quickly named Pete Molinari and The Gaslight Anthem, and he also talked about how his son has gotten him into some punk bands like Against Me!, Bad Religion, and The Dropkick Murphys. "That's the gunslinging life," Bruce said. "You’re always looking over your shoulder."

Through much of the evening, it seemed Norton had a bit of difficulty in focusing his questions coherently (it was useful to remember that, at the end of the day, Norton is still a fan getting the chance to interview one of his heroes — being nervous is understandable). Often it was Bruce who kept things focused when it appeared that his interviewer was struggling. But Norton held up his end by taking the discussion to some interesting places: one of my favorite questions was, if given the chance to see a documentary like the one they just completed on Darkness, but about an album by another artist, which album would it be? After a moment’s thought, Bruce responded with Pet Sounds, or maybe Highway 61.

Norton asked specifically about "The Promise" getting cut off the album, and Bruce called the song "too self-referential," and that they tried to get "the ten toughest songs."

The best quote of the evening might have been when Bruce said he once heard Martin Scorsese say that the goal of an artist is to "get an audience to care about your obsessions," and that Darkness was the album where he started to do that. Bruce also mentioned the importance of Scorsese on his own work; Taxi Driver had just recently been in theaters, and when the Born to Run tour hit Los Angeles the guys met Scorsese and Robert DeNiro, who screened Mean Streets for them.

For anyone that believes Bruce sometimes has trouble remembering his own lyrics, one of the biggest surprises of the night came when he corrected Norton on that front. Norton was asking about the Kingsley Street reference in "Racing in the Street," when Bruce quickly jumped in and said "that’s 'Something in the Night.'"

THE RED CARPET EVENT
Toronto International Film Festival's Gala premiere of The Promise
On Tuesday night, following the Mavericks event, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa were at Roy Thomson Hall — along with Jon Landau, Barbara Carr, Dave Marsh, Thom Zimny, and a sold-out crowd of TIFF filmgoers — for the official world premiere of the Zimny-directed The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town. Daniel Joyaux reports from Toronto for Backstreets.

The film Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run (released in 2005 with the box set version of that album, and also directed by Thom Zimny) captures the central problem of the recording of Bruce Springsteen's 1975 breakthrough album — he had a sound in his head, remarkable in its specificity, that he was trying to capture on record. The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town makes clear that Bruce’s fourth album (and the first one made under the pressure of success) had an altogether different problem: Bruce had so many sounds in his head, he simply didn't know which one to even try for.

Instead, he sort of tried to capture them all, but kept abandoning different styles before they had been fully explored. The documentary opens with an in-studio take of "The Promised Land," which might be the most lyrically appropriate song to embody the album, and the beginning of the film sets up what kind of record they were trying to make. Bruce says he wanted the music to be "unglamorized" and to evoke loneliness, while Jimmy Iovine mentions that as many as 70 songs were recorded for the sessions.

In the first interview with present-day Bruce, he calls Darkness "an honest record, and that's what I was trying to make." We then cut back to the studio, where — speaking of honesty — we see rare and amazing footage of Bruce with an afro and Steve Van Zandt with nothing on his head except his hair; in both cases, it's easy to understand why we haven't seen these images before.

Much of the documentary focuses on the E Street Band at work in the studio. Bruce mentions that "Badlands" started with just the name, and then he reveals that the final take originally had no sax solo (sacrilege!). Iovine talks about how they spent weeks just trying to get the drum sound right, and how Bruce became obsessed with eliminating the sound of the drumstick hitting the snare. "Stick!" Bruce kept shouting out, take after take. "Stick!"

Frustration was all over the sessions, it seemed. At one point we see Jon Landau admonishing Bruce to put down his notebook, because every time he picks that thing up, it just "creates more work. With no more words, there’s no more work!" We also see Bruce, jokingly yet with an undeniable sternness, tell everyone in the studio to just "shut the fuck up" and let him think. In one of the funniest moments, band members bet on how long Bruce will want the takes to be. "I got 4:45!" we hear Steve shout, as he lays money down. Steve reveals that the only reason they had the endurance to go through it is because none of them had wives or girlfriends — or at least not ones "that mattered all that much."

There's a lot of commentary — from Jon, Steve, Jimmy, and, of course, Bruce — about the process of song selection. Steve notes that Bruce had the "discipline and willpower" to not use some of his best songs, and that he could have been remembered as one of the great pop songwriters, but it wasn't what he wanted. Landau gets more specific: he reveals that if Bruce "thought a song could be a hit, but he didn't want to be represented by that hit, then it wouldn't make the album," no questions asked.

Bruce admits that within all the songs thrown to the side, there could have been "a great Brill Building album in there." This point is supported by two of the greatest moments in the documentary: Bruce & Steve, alone in the studio and appearing like they just got their second wind (though maybe they're actually a sheet or two to the wind?), gifting us with impromptu performances of "Sherry Darling" and "Talk to Me." These are rare moments in the film where it looks like anyone's having genuine fun, and it makes a great impression.

When it comes to style, Bruce talked about the dichotomy between the approaches of the three guiding forces — "Jon comes from a very gospel background" and enjoys a lot of R&B, while Steve just likes things to be "trashy and noisy. I was somewhere in the middle."

All of the E Street Band members are seen in new interview footage for the film, including Danny Federici (which should tell you how long they've been working on this). Max Weinberg came up with one of the most telling ways to describe Bruce’s new approach as a songwriter during this period. Speaking to Zimny in one of the film's many current interviews, he describes Born to Run as an album all about how "we’re gonna get out." But with this record, he realized "you can’t just run away." Bruce puts it more simply, though — this is the record where "I tried to learn how to write well," he said.

The two most famous songs cut from the album, "Because the Night" and "The Promise," each earn a bit of discussion. Bruce reveals he cut "Because the Night" due to not feeling like he deserved to write a love song like that, and Patti Smith is interviewed about how she received it. The day she was given the song, she was waiting to hear from her then-lover (and future husband) Fred "Sonic" Smith, of the MC5. The longing she felt inspired her to write her share of the lyrics of what became her only hit single. With "The Promise," a song that they apparently spent three months on, Bruce cut it because it's a song "about fighting and not winning," he said. "I felt too close to it."

As the long and grueling sessions began to draw to a close, Landau put things into perspective. They "wouldn’t be done," he said, "until Bruce had advanced his vision." And whenever Bruce was in doubt about the sequencing and running order, it was Landau who kept his focus on the big picture. "The work of art is the album," he would tell Bruce.

You were right, Jon. You were absolutely right.

- September 15, 2010

TORONTO WATCH: TODAY'S SNEAK PEAK AT THE PROMISE
While Thom Zimny's documentary film The Promise will have its official premiere Tuesday night at the Toronto Film Festival's Gala event, an advance screening was held for press and industry this afternoon. Stephen Whitty was there for the Star-Ledger and reports, "even casual fans are in for a treat. Serious fans are in for a revelation."

It’s not just the charm of seeing old Springsteen family home-movies (or rehearsal footage that shows a pin-up ready Boss, guitar strapped to his bare chest, leading the band in at-home jams).

Nor is it just the occasional what-if wonders and bits of trivia (Springsteen originally had “Badlands” mixed without the sax solo; he gave a half-done “Because the Night” to Patti Smith only because he was “too cowardly” at the time to write a straightforward love song).

No, what thrills here are the real insights – some glimpsed in footage from the time, but most provided by Springsteen and the band more than 30 years later.

Read more at NJ.com, and watch on Wednesday for Backstreets' own coverage from Toronto following Tuesday's double-shot: Springsteen will appear in conversation with Ed Norton tomorrow evening at 6 p.m., followed by the Gala screening at 9:30.
- September 13, 2010

CLARENCE TO PLAY "FRIEND OF MINE" BENEFIT CONCERT, 9/26
Clarence Clemons has had a year filled with obstacles and triumphs, firstly undergoing intense back surgery on his birthday in January this year, to correct disc degeneration. While the Big Man was undergoing intense physical rehabilitation, the University of Maryland presented his Honorary Doctorate to him in May, a proud moment for him — and as he stated, a very proud moment for his mother, a teacher.

Now, following recent performances with Steve Smith and the Nakeds in August, the newly appointed Doctor Clemons is helping out his good friend and band member Paul Pettitt, who was diagnosed with cancer and is battling all odds to win. The upcoming Friend of Mine Concert reunites Clarence with his old band mates of the Temple of Soul for a benefit show on September 26 in Pompano Beach, FL. The night will include a raffle and silent auction, with items including signed guitars, photographic prints from Jo Lopez, and of course, a signed copy of the Big Man's own book. Or is that Doctor Big Man?

Visit doglegmusic.com/friendofmine for more information and to purchase show tickets, .
- September 13, 2010

HE CAME TO (TAP?) DANCE
Nils Lofgren Duo, Union County Musicfest, September 12, 2010
Despite the weather conspiring to thwart the scheduled Nils Lofgren Duo show at the 2010 Union County Musicfest on Sunday, after a few passes of the squeegee on the stage, moving some equipment out of the rain zone and switching to an acoustic-based setlist, the show went on. A few hundred people had their bodies but not their spirits dampened with a set highlighting Lofgren’s deep songbook. New songs and songs you've heard before all were crafted into an enthralling midday performance.

An early selection had Nils laying down guitar parts to be looped so that he could play his own rhythm to his own lead for a mesmerizing effect. Nils told a nice story about writing "Keith Don’t Go (Ode to the Glimmer Twin)" from his eponymous 1975 album, Nils Lofgren, before playing an acoustic version of a song that was definitely a non-acoustic hit, and a home run hit here in Clark, NJ's Oak Ridge Park.

Rounding out the duo is Greg Varlotta on keyboards, trumpet, vocals and tap shoes. Yes, tap shoes. Sometimes a song needs percussion, and since there is no drummer on this tour, tapping out the beat comes in handy. It was amazing how big of a sound came out of this pair. With the concert finale, "I Came to Dance," Nils donned his own tap shoes to join Greg for a dance-off, while simultaneously playing guitar. Nils Lofgren did both without missing a beat.
- September 13, 2010 - report and photographs by A.M. Saddler

AS LONG AS WE'RE POSTING COVER CLIPS...
And before attention turns in full to Toronto... here's Vampire Weekend taking on "I'm Goin' Down." Raving about Born in the U.S.A. to Pitchfork, frontman Ezra Koenig says, "For a while, 'I'm Goin' Down' was my favorite, and I listened to that constantly. Partially, it may have been the headspace that I was in at the time. It had this happy feel, but somewhat depressing lyrics about going down. There’s this weird mix of bummed out and cheerful about going down. That one really stood out for me."
- September 13, 2010

BACK TO SCHOOL
Bruce's annual private fundraising show for his son's school was Saturday night at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, a two-hour-forty-minute performance in which Bruce was backed by a band led by Bobby Bandiera and including Max Weinberg on drums (fresh from his own band's performance at the Pony the night before).

These shows, once legendary for otherwise-unheard covers, have featured more of Bruce's own songs in recent years, although a horn-laden 634-5789 was a highlight, along with Bruce and Southside Johnny trading vocals on "In the Midnight Hour." Performances were loose but spirited, fitting for the event's setting.

From Bruce's own songbook, selections included his standard bar-band fare, but also two songs from his most recent album, a fun opening in "Working on the Highway," and several surprise highlights from his early albums, including "Growin' Up," "Rosalita," and a poignant take on "Sandy."

For the full setlist from this and other recent shows,
see our Setlists page

- September 12, 2010

BIG BAND BY THE BOARDWALK
Max Weinberg Big Band, The Stone Pony, September 10, 2010
Last night, on a cool late-summer night in Asbury Park, New Jersey, the Max Weinberg Big Band opened its two-hour show at The Stone Pony with the very first Tonight Show theme, penned by Steve Allen: "This Could Be the Start of Something Big." And indeed it was — the joint was jumping all night long.

If the opener was a nod to Max’s too-brief stint on the Tonight Show, the two closing songs were a nod to his more than three decades with the E Street Band. "Kitty’s Back," the closer, was not so surprising a choice, given that it is pure jazz-rock fusion, and the high-energy arrangement by MWBB trumpeter, Brian Pareschi, sounded sublime. But the penultimate song, "Born to Run," was a pleasant surprise with thw big band treatment, transcending the full-on, balls-to-the-wall rock anthem in a way that made it something new and fresh. It was like bossa nova meets the Boss.

In between, playing to a crowded house, the talented 15-piece band was brassy and jazzy and swinging: three hot trombones and four trumpets, sometimes cupped and moody; a complement of five saxophones (two alto saxes, two tenors, and a baritone); a be-bopping stand-up bass; a tinkling piano; and, of course, the bandleader pounding on the skins. During his brief repartees between songs, Max — sporting longer hair and a beard, looking quite professorial — mentioned that the E Street Band debuted the Born in the U.S.A. album on the stage of the Stone Pony in 1984. He also reminisced that when he saw the ad seeking a drummer and a piano player for the E Street Band back in 1970s, the ad said that the musicians also had to sing. When he went to audition and displayed his vocal talents, Bruce responded, "You can just drum."

And drum he does, so well, for both the E Street Band and for the MWBB, with such expertise that it seemed on this night, amazingly, both loose and precise, particularly during a smoking drum solo that was an homage to the late Buddy Rich. "I never did a drum solo. It's my band, so I'm gonna do one,” he said before slicing into Rich's "Bugle Call Rag." The statement may have been a good-natured and playful dig at the Boss, who, in the aforementioned Village Voice ad Max answered, requested "no junior Ginger Bakers," in reference to Baker's reputation for long drum solos.

It was a night of homages by Newark-born Max: another to Rich ("Parthenia"), and especially to some other musical Jersey Boys: in addition to Freehold's Bruce Springsteen, there was Hoboken's Frank Sinatra ("Come Fly With Me" and "Only the Lonely," songs which Ol' Blue Eyes made popular) and, especially, Red Bank's Count Basie ("The Kid from Red Bank," "Walk, Don’t Run," "The M Squad Theme," and the Count Basie Orchestra's arrangements of the Beatles' "Help," "Do You Want to Know a Secret," and "Kansas City," which was itself a cover of the 1952 Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller R&B classic). Another highlight was the particularly torrid dueling saxes of Brandon Wright and Joey Berkley during Quincy Jones's "Rat Race."

"We're trying to keep this music alive, the swing music," Max told the audience early in the show. As a child in the '50s and '60s, I grew up with my father's big band records playing on Saturday and Sunday mornings: Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Basie, Goodman, Dorsey, Ellington. And indeed, last night, I saw the ghosts of my music past come to life, vital and vibrant. And at the end of the night, the hot and grinning bandleader said: "I'm Max Weinberg, and this is my new big swinging band. Come back and see us, because we'll be seeing you." I know I'll be back.
- September 11, 2010 - Barbara Schweiger reporting - photographs by A.M. Saddler

MISPLACED INSIDE A JAIL
Check out Eddie Vedder's excellent cover of "Open All Night" here (at 6 minutes, 49 seconds in), performed at the recent Voices For Justice rally/concert supporting the effort to free the West Memphis 3 (Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Miskelley). It opens with his hilarious intro about sounding like Bruce Springsteen, and then comes the performance of the song itself. Demonstrating just how important context can be by singing "in the voice of Damien Echols… on his way home," Vedder turns Nebraska's most lighthearted track into something even more moving and haunting. For more information on Damien Echols and the West Memphis 3, visit www.freewestmemphis3.org.
- September 11, 2010 - Shawn Poole reporting

FREE JESSE MALIN DOWNLOAD:
"BURNING THE BOWERY"
FOB (Friend of Bruce) Jesse Malin has a new album out, and it's all killer, no filler. We've been spinning the bejeezus out of Malin & The St. Marks Social's Love It to Life here at the Backstreets Towers, so when the label got in touch with us about offering up an mp3 to our readers, the only question was, which song to choose? Because, really, any of 'em would cut the mustard. We're running with the album's lead-off track, "Burning the Bowery," available now for FREE on our Downloads page, this month only. If you like what you hear, pick up the whole thing — for cheap! — right here.

Update: And another track to check out, "Black Boombox" — video directed by Backstreets contributing photographer Joseph Quever.

- Updated September 10, 2010

SOFTCOVER RUNAWAY DREAM OUT NOW
Louis Masur's book Runaway Dream: Born to Run and Bruce Springsteen's American Vision was described by the Hartford Courant as "an exceedingly detailed analysis of the singer's breakthrough album: how it was created, its cultural context and what it means today." The book has just been published in paperback, an edition that includes a new Q&A between the author and critic Greil Marcus. In his new appendix Masur writes:

...Springsteen fans know [Marcus] as the reviewer of Born to Run in Rolling Stone in October 1975 who proclaimed that "it is a magnificent album that pays off on every bet ever placed on him." I began by asking him whether, more than thirty-five years later, the album holds up. His answer surprised me:

GM: What's interesting is I was so completely knocked out by "Born to Run" itself I had trouble at first playing the whole album. I kept playing that song over and over again. But that song has not worn all that well for me. There are other songs on that album that really grew over time, most of all "Jungleland." That's a real knockout. I remember Jon Landau telling me that when they were working on the album he kept telling Bruce "less is more, less is more." They had done rehearsal versions of that song, and then Bruce comes into the studio with a much, much cut-down version, like a two-and-a-half minute version, and Jon says "where's the rest of it?" The whole point of the song is that it goes on and on, and it builds and Bruce said "you said less is more." And Landau responded, "well, not always."

LM: What you say about "Jungleland" is also true for me about "Backstreets," and in both cases part of the lasting power of those songs is Bruce's voice and its effectiveness.

GM: People are used to Bruce getting desperate and turning himself into a sort of a body of pure emotion. That’s what happens at the end of "Backstreets" and that's one of the reasons why it is so striking. I tend to think of Bruce as somebody who really can do so much more with less, with something like "Stolen Car" which is a really small song with enormous power. It's quite a black hole. The mask gets smaller and smaller and the energy gets greater and greater. A couple of lines in that song and the way that they are sung can momentarily replace his whole career, just the way the end of "Backstreets" can....

Marcus and Masur go on to talk about Darkness on the Edge of Town, Bruce attending Marcus's class at Princeton, and more. The book is in stock now at Backstreet Records.

Also just added to our online shop: the "Wrecking Ball" 10-inch vinyl, produced by Columbia exclusively for Record Store Day 2010. These are limited, rare, and sealed!

We've also restocked our supply of The Light in Darkness — demand for the book has risen again with the official announcement of the box set, and if you're interested in a copy we recommend grabbing one soon (the book's predecessor, For You, is out of print and long gone).
- September 8, 2010

NILS & MAX HIT THE ROAD THIS WEEKEND
This Labor Day weekend brings Nils Lofgren's return to the road, kicking off an acoustic tour with a three-night stand at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA, tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday. He writes at nilslofgren.com that he's "enjoying the challenge and journey to fire up my own show again. It'll be great to play with the Lofgren brothers again, in Virginia at the Birchmere. Greg Varlotta will be with me at all the gigs. Mary Ann Redmond will be singing at Birchmere with us the first two nights. (Friday and Saturday) Should be fun." Lofgren's tour will hit NYC next week, with a lengthy UK run in October. For more with Nils, including interviews and exclusive performance footage, visit wtopnews.com and dc50tv.com.

Heading back out this weekend as well is the Max Weinberg Big Band, also beginning a series of Fall 2010 dates in Virginia this Sunday night at the American Music Fest, followed by a stop at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park next Friday. Read Katherine Byrd's recent interview with Max at portfolioweekly.com.

For Nils and Max's full schedules — as well as Labor Day weekend dates from John Eddie, Jobonanno & the Godsons of Soul, Willie Nile, Southside Johnny, the B Street Band, Bruce in the U.S.A, Tramps Like Us, and more — see our Concert Calendar. And enjoy the long weekend!
- September 3, 2010

EMMY, LET ME IN, I WANNA BE YOUR FRIEND...
For your viewing pleasure: the full-length, official Emmys opening clip from NBC.com.
- September 3, 2010

PRE-ORDER NOW!
Here at Backstreet Records, we'll be stocking all four of the configurations due on November 16, and we're taking pre-orders for each of them now. We're offering a 10 percent discount across the board for these pre-sales, and we'll be fulfilling them in the order received, immediately upon release. We appreciate you supporting Backstreets!

The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story (6-disc CD/DVD edition) 10% OFF List price: $120 Our price: $108	The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story (6-disc CD/Blu Ray edition) 10% OFF List price: $140 Our price: $126
The Promise (3-LP vinyl edition) 10% OFF List price: $55 Our price: $49.50	The Promise (2-CD edition) 10% OFF List price: $19 Our price: $17

Each configuration is also available directly from Sonymusicdigital.com, along with an exclusive T-shirt and poster.