John Clay’s Sidelines

To step out of the sports realm for a second — indulge me — today marks a momentous occasion.

It is Bruce Springsteen’s 60th birthday.

“The Boss” was born on Sept. 23, 1949 in Freehold, New Jersey.

Over on Twitter, we’ve succumbed to a mini-poll on what is your favorite Bruce song.

My pick: “Prove It All Night.”

And your favorite Springsteen song?

A musical aside: New Springsteen tour dates just announced. New CD out today, so if I can brave the ice a little later I will be out to acquire. If you’re not interested, sorry for the interruption.

If you are:

Here are Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s tour dates:

April 1: San Jose, Calif. (HP Pavilion at San Jose)
April 3: Glendale, Calif. (Jobing.com Center)
April 5: Austin, Texas (Frank Erwin Center)
April 7: Tulsa, Okla. (BOK Center)
April 8: Houston, Texas (Toyota Center)

Continue reading ‘SFTI: New Bruce tour dates’

I know, you are tired of reading about Bruce Springsteen on blogs. (I see that Dennis Dodd has penned a Bruce column in anticipation of Bruce's show Sunday night in St. Louis.) I know, you don't want to hear it anymore. You want to stick to, these days, football.

So I will say only a couple of things about my journey with my friend Mike — better known as "Bear" — to Nashville's Sommet Center on Thursday night to see Bruce.

•   1. After the General Admission drawing, "Bear" was the 90th person in line. I was 91st.
•   2. There were two people between me and the stage directly in front of Steve Van Zandt.
•   3. One of the two was a fourth-grader.
•   4. To honor Joe Strummer's birthday, Bruce played "I Fought the Law."
•   5. To honor Johnny Cash, Bruce played a few bars of "I Walk the Line."
•   6. Bruce played "Loose Ends." (Die-hards will know the significance.)
•   7. Bruce called more audibles than Peyton Manning.
•   8. My legs hurt from standing.
•   9. My wife, who could not attend, is trying really hard not to be jealous.
• 10. No 58-year-old man works harder in a three-hour period than Bruce Springsteen.
• 11. Bruce pulled a grandmother up on the stage for "Dancing in the Dark," slow-danced her, then picked her up and handed her back to the crowd.
• 12. A guitar player from the Philadelphia band Marah played with the band on "Rosalita." A guy beside me thought it was Kid Rock.
• 13. "Bear" and I rolled back into Lexington at 4:20 a.m, my head hit the pillow at 5. I was up at 7.
• 14. Of the 18 Bruce shows, this one ranks easily in my top five.
• 15. I promise now to return to football posts.

Sorry, but this post has absolutely nothing to do with UK-U of L, or Rajon Rondo, or Billy Gillispie, or Daniel Orton, or Steve Kragthorpe, or Jared Lorenzen, or Andre Woodson, or what happened at Kentucky’s football practice this morning, or (surprise) Bruce Springsteen.

But if you’ve been watching any TV lately, as in Olympics TV, or even exhibition football TV, or even regular TV, you’ve probably seen that Nike commercial which features a snippet of the late, great Marvin Gaye singing the national anthem at the 1983 NBA All-Star game.

It’s about the coolest thing ever.

Not the commercial, even though it’s ok, and any commercial that includes the Gaye clip is fine by me. But what it did do was prompt me to search out the Gaye clip on YouTube. It wasn’t hard to find. And I’m not surprised.

Note: This was just one year before Gaye’s death.

It's about time.

The New York Post is reporting that the halftime entertainment for next February's Super Bowl will be none other than — you got it — Bruce Springsteen.

Backstreets, the bible of all things Bruce, claims that it's not yet official, but certainly possible, if not probable.

In fact, Backstreets claims (jokes) it has seen a preliminary set list:

• The Line
• Drive All Night
• Loose Ends
• Cover Me
• Protection
• Trapped
• No Surrender
• You'll Be Comin' Down
• A Good Man is Hard to Find (Pittsburgh)
• Medley: Super Bowl Shuffle / E Street Shuffle
• and of course, Born to Run. 

The Super Bowl is Feb. 1, 2009 in Tampa.

Should have blogged about this a while back, but about a month ago my friend Brian and I drove to Louisville’s Headliners Music Hall to check out Kathleen Edwards. My friend Brian knows more about music, especially female musicians, than most anyone I know. Over the years, since our college days together at UK, from time to time, a cassette of new music would pop up unannounced in my mail box.  Brian is always touting some new female artist of which I admit I am either unfamiliar or vaguely familiar.

That said, I am happy to say I discovered Edwards on my own. Loved her first album, Failer. Loved her second album, Back to Me. Always wanted to see her live. Was thrilled to find out she was going to be in Louisville to promote Asking for Flowers. Mentioned this to Brian at a UK basketball game. He said he’d like to see her, and a road trip was planned.

Happy to say Edwards was terrific. My being a veteran of 17 Springsteen shows, most in sold-out arenas, Headliners was an entirely different venue. It’s a bar. With an open dance floor. Very few tables. And unfortunately, on this night, there was not an overabundance of patrons. Maybe 200. Maybe. And yet Edwards played as if there were 2,000. She rocked. She had a great time, showcasing her famous foul mouth, her band’s talents, and a taste for Kentucky bourbon. Played most everything I had hoped to hear. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

(You can find an excellent review of the show and more pictures from the show at Backseat Sandbar. Photos by Cory Greenwell.)

But the surprise of the night was the opening act. I didn’t know much about Dan Wilson. The name didn’t ring a bell. When we arrived, Brian informed me that he was the lead singer for Semisonic, the Minneapolis trio (I think) famous for "Closing Time." That rang a definite bell. My 15-year-old son, Alex, went through a brief period when nothing but "Closing Time" could be heard from his room. (Coldplay is his band of choice at present.)  Yet on this night, Wilson opened with a song called "Easy Silence." Immediately, I thought, I know that song. And I did. It’s on the Dixie Chicks’ Taking the Long Way. And Wilson introduced it by saying, "This is a song I wrote with three cool chicks from Texas." And, yes, it turned out that this is the same Dan Wilson who helped write half the songs on that Grammy-winning CD.

The rest of Wilson’s set was terrific. He was funny. The songs were good. Better than good in some cases. He engaged the crowd in a couple of sing-a-longs, and did a humorous intro into "Closing Time." Better yet, he joined Edwards for her first encore, a duet of his "Secret Smile." I knew I had to buy that song, which I did, purchasing Semisonic’s Feeling Strangely Fine. I have also purchased Wilson’s solo CD Free Life. It comes with my recommendation.

Anyway, in my post-concert investigations, I stumbled upon Wilson’s web page . On it, he encourages e-mail. So I sent him one. Explained that I saw his Louisville show, that I enjoyed the show, and he had a new fan.

This morning, I found this in my in-box:

John, thank you very much for the good word. I enjoyed that tour quite a bit and I’m glad you liked the gig.

Peace
DW

So if from now on I use "Peace, JC" in my e-mail replies, you’ll know the origin.

Being a Boss Believer, today is a good day.

Today is the day is the rumors stopped and the official word came. Columbia Records announced that, yes, Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band have recorded a new album (CD, whatever) to be released Oct. 2.

"Magic" is the disk title. It’s the first collaborative effort of Bruce and the band since the 2002 release of "The Rising." It is also produced by Brendan O’Brien, who produced "The Rising." Rumors are a tour will begin possibly next month.

Links: [Los Angeles Times] [Backstreets] [Rolling Stone]

An imperfect 10:

1) UK plays host to NCAA baseball regional

As Monty Python used to say, "And now for something completely different." The host Cats would seem to have the advantage. Their a power-built club playing in a small park. My nephew, a freshman on the Miami of Ohio baseball team, informs me that Ball State is also a club built for power playing in a smallish park. The MAC is no pushover, either. Last year’s MAC champ, Miami, was knocked out by eventual NCAA champ Texas. Could come down to pitching. That is if they play today. The skies are threatening over Lexington this morning, and the forecast predicts a stormy Friday.

2) What becomes a Legend’s Legend most

We live in a news-now time. Wednesday was proof. No sooner had word leaked out on radio, TV and internet about Roger Clemens appearance next Tuesday in a Lexington Legends uniform, than a traffic jam formed on Broadway as patrons rushed to Applebee’s Park in search of tickets. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime shot to catch a glimpse of an icon at work.

3) Brandon Webb’s scoreless streak

He is not yet Roger Clemens, but Brandon Webb is headed in that direction. The Ashland native and former Paul Blazer High School star has stretched his scoreless innings streak to 25 innings for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He’s also 8-0, with a 2.01 ERA, best in the majors.

4) Horse racing dissed

Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty, writing in his blog, "Barbaro’s ugly breaks in the Preakness won’t set horse racing back the
way Ruffian’s broken leg did in 1975. That’s only because racing had
lots of fans to lose in 1975. Now, racing’s as relevant as boxing and
track and field."

5) E-mail of the day

One of my more faithful e-mailers shot me this after my column Wednesday criticizing a push by college basketball coaches to expand the NCAA Tournament, "One of only five articles in the past year that I agreed with. One of us is in trouble."

6) Dixie Chicks new CD

They’re not albums anymore, remember? Doesn’t matter if you agree or disagree with what Natalie Maines said about the president — "Just so you know, we’re ashamed our president is from Texas," the Chicks’ lead singer told a London audience back in 2002 — or if you backed your Ford F-150 over a stack of the Chicks’ earlier work, you have to admire Maines’ pugnacity. She doesn’t back down. "Not Ready to Make Nice," makes that clear. And loud. Personal fav: "Lubbock or Leave It."

7) Mark Cuban’s Mavericks

Of what little I watch of the NBA playoffs, the site of a courtside Mark Cuban yelling at officials remains a bit jarring. You just don’t expect an owner to act like that. Or dress like that, either, with a t-shirt and jeans, or some other casual attire. Actually, though, it makes me want to root for the Mavs. If I watched. And if I did watch, I’d probably pull for the Suns and their crusade to rightfully return hoops to the run-and-gun.

Reds woeful defense

If Edwin Encarnacion handled this post, it would bounce into left field.

9) Dan Werner gets Florida treatment this weekend

The 6-7 forward from New Jersey continues his informational tour. He visited UK a couple of weeks back, and could still end up at his originally planned destination of North Carolina State. Werner has also visited Notre Dame and Pittsburgh is believed to be in his mix.

10) Ten reasons why you should watch the NCAA Baseball Tournament

SI on Campus  gives its 10.

Poor Eddie Sutton has company. Country music star John Michael Montgomery plead not guilty today to DUI and various other charges after being stopped at 2 in the morning on a Lexington street. Turns out Sebastian Telfair isn’t the only one who makes a practice of having some ammo on hand. [kentucky.com]

Ain’t love the sweetest thing?