Land of Hope and Dreams

Ever wondered what it was like in the early days of the E Street Band?

Well, the ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’ Springsteen convention last weekend gave fans a real glimpse at the birth of a legend.
Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez was in on E Street at the very beginning, hooking up with Danny Federici before the Phantom had even met Bruce.

Together, while searching for a guitar player who wrote original songs, they discovered Springsteen.

And the rest, with a few curves and some ups and downs along the way, is history.
Vini has recorded the songs that Bruce wrote for their band, Steel Mill, and the reformed band took the stage twice at the convention in Schiedam, near Rotterdam.


Steel Mill manager Carl ‘Tinker’ West was also there and joined Vini in a Q&A session which shed light on the teenage Springsteen and the recording of Greetings From Asbury Park and The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle.



A highlight of a special weekend was the all-star jam which Vini led on Sunday night. He was joined by many of the artists who had played hard all weekend, including Italy’s Graziano Romani and England’s Mark Wright.



“This is just like the Upstage!” Vini said, referring to the Asbury Park club which was at the centre of the town’s wild music scene at the end of the 1960s.

Mooney Goes Wild and Innocent

Just a quick date.
'Springsteen In Ireland' is due on RTE Radio One this week.
I'm not sure which day but anytime from Monday, August 25.
Aonghus McAnally carried out the interview for the Mooney Goes Wild afternoon show.
The interview was arranged by huge Springsteen fan Brian Lally who is a producer on the show. It features a clip of Bruce talking about performing in Ireland and an interview with Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions.
Thanks to Aonghus and Brian!

"A letter come rolling in..."

Many thanks to the Evening Herald in Dublin for being the latest to support our appeal.

We've had a huge amount of support but we are keeping the appeal for stories going for a couple more months as we write the rest of the book.

Contact us anytime springsteeninireland@googlemail.com

"...Saying something in Spanish..." (or Catalan)

There are some excellent films of the Saturday night concert in Barcelona here.

And while us 'Magic' fans have seen some pretty amazing solos from Nils Lofgren this tour, the lucky folk of New Jersey have seen two somersaults in a week. Here's one.

How does he do that and keep playing?

I've been working real hard trying to get my hands clean...

...We've just returned from two nights in the pit at the Camp Nou.

What a weekend!

Great to meet so many fans from Greasy Lake and also Ela and Darek from Blood Brothers Poland.

They flew in on the Saturday without tickets but managed to get in the pit on Saturday and Sunday, and were great fun to be around.

Now, though, with the European leg over it's time to get down to business.

We've had a phenomenal response from fans so far.

Great stories from Ireland, UK, around Europe and the US.

If anybody was in Barcelona they might have seen the 'BCN Loves Bruce' book produced by El Periodico newspaper.

'Springsteen In Ireland' will be a cross between that and 'For You', with chapters going through the stories of each show and sections featuring fans' stories and pictures.

We are still looking for more stories.

Contributors don't have to be Irish - they just need to have followed Bruce in Ireland.

We can take stories about shows or about meeting Bruce or the band/s, and comments and thoughts on why Bruce's concerts in Ireland are such great events and why he is so big there.

:: Just email springsteeninireland@googlemail.com

...There's still hope

Remember, you don't have to be Irish to take part.

The project is about the connections between E Street and Ireland.

And about stories and thoughts about the Irish concerts - which each seem to be special in their own way.

Drop us an email at springsteeninireland@googlemail.com

The Daily News asks us for the dope

It's less than a month since we started our quest.

But our highway’s already jammed - not with broken heroes, but with the great and the good of the Springsteen community.

We’ve had messages from Ireland, every country of the UK, from across Europe and from the United States.

Thanks to everyone who has responded so far.

The stories are moving, exhilarating, funny, inspiring – and each will bring back many special memories, we’re sure.

This morning, we had a story from our youngest Bruce fan so far. She was six when she went to her first concert and ended up on the Live In Dublin DVD.

We are going to be working hard on this over the next few months and look forward to hearing from you all.

:: We’re posting some of the most recent press coverage for ‘Springsteen In Ireland’ project. Thanks to everyone who has helped us so far, especially Andrew Quinn, of the Sunday Journal.

RADIO EVERYWHERE...

...Well, not quite, but the kind people at BBC Northern Ireland invited us onto the radio tonight to talk about "Springsteen In Ireland".
We were interviewed by Marie-Louise Muir on Radio Ulster's Arts Extra.
Best of all we were introduced with a blast of 'Badlands'.... Fantastic!

THE HIGHWAY IS ALIVE

What a week!

Seven days ago we launched our appeal for stories and pictures of Bruce in Ireland.

The idea is to produce a book charting the links between E Street and Ireland, and telling the stories of Bruce's Irish concerts and his visits to the Emerald Isle.

The book will also include fans' stories.

We've received dozens so far and some fantastic pictures, especially from the good people of the Greasy Lake community.

We are also grateful to Maureen Coleman, of the Belfast Telegraph, for this fantastic article. Expect more soon.

Get in touch with us at springsteeninireland@googlemail.com

THE SEARCH BEGINS

And so it begins .. the heartstoppin', pants-droppin', hard rockin', booty shakin', earth quakin', love makin', viagra takin', history makin', search for all that is IRISH in the legendary Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.














The book SPRINGSTEEN IN IRELAND will chart every concert in Ireland by Bruce, track down all those who have met and spoken to him, and record all the best fans' stories from Bruce's Irish concerts.

So, if you are an Irish fan or have seen Bruce at any of his Irish gigs contact us now - and we'll look to record your story in our book.

Email springsteeninireland@googlemail.com for details.