Auckland band Great North (or more specifically - their singer Hayden Donnell) are massive Bruce Springsteen fans. Having yet to be shoulder tapped by The Boss himself, they've taken it upon themselves to get the attention of him/his management or the tour promoter in another way. They're collecting signatures for a petition. Here's the lowdown via their petition site..
Great North frontman Hayden Donnell is a Springsteen fan. He yells the words to Thunder Road at traffic lights as fellow commuters stare, weeps on the couch to The Rising, feels unironic joy at the sound of a sax solo. Once, in a fit of madness, he bought plane tickets to see a Springsteen show in Hamilton, Canada. Please get behind Great North's bid for the second support slot for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at their Auckland show on March 1, 2014. Note: We don't want to replace Jimmy Barnes, just play before him. Or work out some harmonies to Working Class Man and play with him. Anything.
David Parker, Great North producer at Little Monster Studio, enemy: 7:17pm:
"One time I told Hayden I didn't really like Bruce Springsteen's music that much and so he put on a Springsteen album at full volume while trapping me in a corner and dancing up against me while I cowered on the floor. I am still traumatised by this event." 9:45pm: "I do not support this campaign, Hayden is a narcissist and you're all encouraging him."
Rachel, Great North band member, wife: Hayden has openly admitted that, while our relationship is fairly solid, he would likely leave me if Bruce Springsteen became available. I'm okay with this. Hayden deserves it.
We dusted off the blanket fort again, Great North played in the library and it was really great. The wonderful Amanda Radcliffe from amandashootsbands.com showed up to document the night and here's one of her shots of a beautiful audience enjoying the band.
Massive thanks to Hayden, Rachel and Dale from Great North for making the time to play this show. You should really consider checking out their Tui award winning record Halves at the Great North bandcamp site where it's available to download at the very modest price of $10 or $25 as a CD. It's a pretty fantastic alt-country record and if you like anything in the realm of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Okkervil River, Dr Dog or Ryan Adams it's well worth your time.
If you missed it then check out this video below of part of their library performance for the next best thing, or come along to see Panther and The Zoo performing in the library this Friday.
We've had a very busy week preparing for NZ Music Month 2012, which, I'm sure you'll know is throughout May. This year we're celebrating regionally, with music events in libraries from Wellsford up north to Waiuku down south. I'm looking forward to getting out of the city and doing ukulele classes all over the place. There are also a lot more exciting things happening which I'm not allowed to announce just yet...
Also this week I've been enjoying the new Bruce Springsteen album, Wrecking Ball. While it's not quite as amazing as other recents like Magic or The Rising, there's still a whole lot of beauty and attitude in it. And it features some of the last recorded saxophone of the late great Clarence Clemons. Download some of the tracks from Freegal Music.
The Boss just spent the some time in Texas for South By Southwest(SXSW) which is a music/film/media conference extravaganza held for a week each year in Austin. David Dallas got over there after Pasifika. I hope he saw Bruce play. Here's an interview with DJBooth:
Music 101 on Radio NZ National have done a great feature on SXSW today, as well as other great happenings about the place. Check it out here.
It's still the 4th of July in USA right now so we can get away with this!
Independence Day Mixtape:
After suffering a stroke last week, Big Man Clarence Clemons, the iconic saxophonist of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, died on Saturday.
A former football player, and one of the few men to make saxophone cool, Clemons' characteristic sound helped Springsteen to create a number of rock music's greatest albums, especially Born To Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town.
Read a bit about him in this Rolling Stone interview.
There's an urban myth that Clemons' show rider frequently included a whole roast chicken. Who knows how true it is, but this might be proof.
So in Clarence's honour, here's a recommended list:
