Sunday, June 19, 2011

The Big Man, the REAL CC, is gone

In 1974, I saw Springsteen at the Geneva Theater in Geneva, NY, a downtown movie house where you didn't want to put your hand under the seat, because of what might be there.

Early on, between each song, a drunken Hobart College lacrosse player named Green would scream, "CLARE-ANNNNCE" so hard his whole body shook. Then he'd yell, "Kitty's Back." The band ignored him, although it became harder to do. Green stood at the edge of the stage. He could practically touch them. 

Finally, Clarence walked over to the side, pointed his saxaphone like a gun at Green, and said, "YOU better watch out. Because Kitty's Back." Then they played it.

First time I'd ever seen anything so cool in rock n roll.

Never been the same.

Late last night, a buddy and I put on "Jungleland," turned it up full blast for the neighborhood, stood outside and yelled every word as loudly as we could. It just needed to happen.


Lonely-hearted lovers
Struggle in dark corners
Desperate as the night moves on
Just one look
And a whisper, and they're gone...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Geeze duque. How old are you?! I always figured like, college age, mid to late twenties. Apparently not!

Stang said...

Duque's so old we're changing his nickname to "Jeter."