Tag Archives: Ed NaHa

Meeting Across The River – Bruce Springsteen

Posted on by Musicofourheart
Cover of "Meeting Across the River: Stori...

Cover via Amazon

Hey Eddie, can you give us a ride?

There are some songs we hear in this life that are hauntingly epic and touch our souls deeply. One such song is Bruce Springsteen’s “Meeting Across The River” from the masterpiece Born to Run album. I’ve always been drawn to this song when I hear it played. It doesn’t hurt that my name is Eddie also. ;)

File:Borntorun.jpg

The song creates a picture which resolves into a black and white film noir. It’s one of those songs I would love to direct and produce a short film about, if I had the money, time and shooting location. For now, I’ll limit my theater of the mind to what is available about “Meeting Across The River.” Rest assured the dream is never far away.

“Meeting Across The River” was the “B” side to the single, “Born to Run“, which made it to the #23 position on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975. According to the booklet in the 30th Anniversary Edition of Bruce Springsteen‘s Born To Run the musicians who recorded this song at the Record Plant Studio in New York City are:

Bruce Springsteen, Vocals

Roy Bittan, Piano

Richard Davis, Bass

Randy Brecker, Trumpet

My favorite line in the song, “this guy don’t dance”.

The song inspired a book of 20 stories by different authors, Meeting Across the River: Stories Inspired by the Haunting Bruce Springsteen Song .

As an experiment I purchased the Amazon Kindle Edition so I can listen to “Meeting Across The River” and read each author’s interpretation. I also purchased the audio edition of this unique book which was edited by The Boss himself. My lovely wife, Rosemary gave me her Barnes & Noble gift card to get that, thank you dear. (She’s a much more intense Springsteen fan than I am. She bought us tickets in 2009 to see Bruce & The E Street Band Concert #2 and Concert #5, the last concert at the old Giants Stadium before they gave it the Wrecking Ball!) .

I found thisYouTube video to be the best live version of “Meeting Across The River”. It was captured in 1978 at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey. The video is choppy and cuts out but it’s so classic Bruce in athletic t-shirt, emoting at the microphone stand with Roy Bittan on piano.

Asides

My son Matthew bought me the 30th Anniversary Box Set as a Christmas present in 2005. His teacher and mentor at The School of Visual Arts was Chris Austopchuk. Chris is Vice President of Sony BMG Music Entertainment where he also handles art direction and design for Bruce Springsteen. Matthew was an intern for Chris at Sony and met Bruce Springsteen in Chris’s office a few years back.

Another friend of mine Ed NaHa was the A&R coordinator at Columbia Records for Born to Run when  it was certified Gold by the RIAA.

Hey Eddie, can you give us a ride?

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Taj Mahal

Posted on by Musicofourheart

Taj Mahal is ever-expanding his musical capabilities with rich textures gathered from across the world stage. Taj ranges with natural motion from the blues, through calypso, diving into reggae and swaying us  like palm trees with island music.

It has been 37 years since I last saw Taj Mahal perform live at The Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, Ct on October 30, 1974.  I spent quality time with Taj Mahal that evening as I interviewed him for a local music magazine. He played a National Steel Guitar underneath the interview as we talked in his dressing room. Sitting right outside his dressing room that night was James Cotton who joined Taj Mahal  softly on his harp. That is one of my fondest backstage moments when two pivotal blues musicians broke out in improvisational song as background accompaniment in my presence.

I also saw Taj Mahal open for the Mahavishnu Orchestra at Staples High School in Westport, Ct. 1973. Taj Mahal had Howard Johnson on Tuba with him that evening and Taj’s set was reminiscent of The Real Thing recorded live at The Fillmore East in 1971.

My lovely wife Rosemary purchased tickets to see Taj Mahal and Los Lobos live at The Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport, Ct. on Saturday February 19th. My modus operandi before I attend a concert is to immerse myself in that artist’s music and read as much as  I can about them and their art. I enjoy researching the artist’s Web pages, catching up on what has been written and learned about the artist. Its going to be both fun and a challenge assimilating Taj Mahal’s 40+ year legacy in the next 10 days ;) Thankfully I have Zune to help me do that ;)

When I attended the University of New Haven(1972-1974) I took a music course that covered the blues extensively. I chose to write my term paper that semester about Taj Mahal. Having established a nice working relationship with Ed NaHa at Columbia Records in New York City, I availed myself of CBS Record’s research department utilizing press release and extensive artist background information files. Ed was a tremendous help to me in 1973 and 1974 when I needed background information on Mahavisnhu John McLaughlin and Taj Mahal. Ed made me feel right at home at the Big Black Rock as CBS was known as in those days. He understood it was my desire as a student majoring in business and minoring in music that I wanted to work for CBS Music when I graduated. That dream never did materialize for me but I always stayed in direct touch with music as best I could over the years.

So today’s WordPress post is dedicated to old friends and the ever unfolding music of Mr. Taj Mahal. :)

Taj Mahal’s latest recording is Maestro, give it a listen soon ;)