Bruce Springsteen

Yet Another Springsteen Book, This Time In the Boss' Own Words

Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters Edited by Jeff Burger Even editor Burger himself poses this question in his intro: Does the world really need another book on Bruce Springsteen? Especially in recent times when Boss Books have been flooding the marketplace (and Yours ... More >>

Latest Springsteen Book Digs Deep Into Songs

E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band By Clinton Heylin Viking, 352 pp., $27.95. Capping a trilogy of recent, impressive Springsteen bios that also includes Marc Dolan's Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock and Roll and Peter Ames Carlin's semi-authorized Br ... More >>

Bruce: New Springsteen Book Is the Boss of Them All

Bruce By Peter Ames Carlin Touchstone Books, 512 pp., $28. Let me start by saying that Carlin -- who has also penned books on Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney -- has written the definitive Springsteen straight-bio here with Bruce, an engaging, thorough, and compelling look at the man and his music. ... More >>

A Playlist for Tonight's Hurricane Sandy Telethon

The music business was hardly spared the effects of Hurricane Sandy. As reported by our New York sister blog, Sound of the City, dozens of shows in the New York-New Jersey area were postponed or canceled; the resulting travel snafu has scuttled touring plans as far away as tonight's (former) Houston ... More >>

Revisiting Gaslight Anthem and Other "Baby Boss Bands"

This past year and a half was a pretty Springsteen-centric one for me. It was just last summer that we lost The Big Man, Clarence Clemons, the E Street Band's mascot and longtime saxophonist at the age of 69 due to stroke complications. Rewind: Springsteen Stumbles On Pedestrian New Album Wrecking ... More >>

The Saxophone: 8 Songs That Show Off Rock's Underappreciated Horn

Bruce Springsteen is currently in the middle of a world tour with E Street Band, their first without saxophonist Clarence Clemons. "The Big Man" passed away one year ago today from complications resulting from an earlier stroke. His death was sad for many reasons, but the reasons most relevant to ... More >>

SXSW: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Rock ACL Live

Bruce Springsteen's Thursday started with a keynote speech in one of the big ballrooms at the Austin Convention Center, and ended with a mythic three-hour set at ACL Live across town, in front of a few thousand people cooing "Bruce". The keynote and the show went hand in hand. If you weren't there ... More >>

Support Staff: 10 Of Pop History's Greatest Backing Bands

Being behind the scenes is what most musicians who don't write songs or sing expect of their lives once they start seriously playing. A career backing someone up can be extremely rewarding, particularly if you are part of a transcendent group of musicians that goes from simply backing up an artist i ... More >>

The Top 10 Laziest Music Videos Ever

We're obsessed with music videos lately, and have spent almost the whole of the weekend seeking new and brilliant ones in order to feature in our weekly column. We're just so impressed with the capabilities open to modern artists at all strata of stardom, and how brilliant a piece of work can come o ... More >>

Bruce Springsteen's New Single and a Preemptive Review of His Upcoming Album

Like any red-blooded American rock and roll fan, I am looking forward to the next year to be filled with Bruce Springsteen. The man has a new album, Wrecking Ball, coming on March 6, a massive tour in the planning stages, and he's set to be the keynote speaker at this year's South By Southwest in Au ... More >>

Rolled Up Like a Douche: "Blinded by the Light" Explained

A few years ago, my band took a trip up the east coast to play some shows in and around New York City. One of the stops was in Asbury Park at a club called The Saint. Not more than probably a mile down the road was the Stone Pony, the legendary venue where some great bands got their start including ... More >>

Springsteen Web Site: '78 Summit Show Best Video Ever

​ Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, "Fire," live at the Summit 12/8/78 Since one of the extra goodies is a complete video of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's December 1978 concert at the Summit, Rocks Off is sure Houston's Boss fans don't need much more reason to buy the expande ... More >>

Last Night: Gaslight Anthem At Warehouse Live

Photos by Jason Wolter​Gaslight Anthem Warehouse Live October 7, 2010 Quite a great deal of press - too much, really - has been given to the similarities between New Jersey's Gaslight Anthem and that other guy from the Garden State - Jon Bon J... er, Bruce Springsteen. Both Springsteen and GA ... More >>

Springsteen 2.0: Can Baby Bosses Cruise The Backstreets?

Daniel Kramer​This fall, Houstonians salivating for another touring run by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band don't have to search to hard to find bands heavily influenced by the man's sound and work ethic. Even though Springsteen and his merry band of musicians may be cooling their road ... More >>

Springsteen Darkness Reissue Includes 1978 Houston Show

​Did you know Bruce Springsteen mentions bygone downtown venue Liberty Hall in his song "This Hard Land"? Of course you did, because Rocks Off is contractually obligated to mention it every time we post something about The Boss. So now that's out of the way, here's something else Houston-re ... More >>

Beasting Off the Riesling: The Most Ridiculous Lyrics of 2009, Part 1

The lowest common denominator having been achieved in 2005 with the release of the Black Eyed Peas' Monkey Business, popular musicians have had to work extra hard in recent years to find new and inventive ways to be inane. They found great success in 2009, with artists as varied as Lady Gaga, Bruce ... More >>

Listology: The American Heist Soundtracks Their Funerals

​ ​Of all the bands to emerge out of the Houston music puppy mill this year, none has been as steadfastly working class and punk rock as the American Heist. Rocks Off first spied the band opening up for Florida's Fake Problems in May. At the time they were still called Born Anchor, but a Seattle ... More >>

Hiding on the Backstreets, Part 3: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's Last (and Final?) Four Houston Shows

[Ed. Note: This is the final installment of our series reminiscing on Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's long history in Houston. See here for the '70s, and here for the '80s and '90s.] April 18, 2000: E Street Band Reunion Tour, Compaq Center (the Summit) Daniel Kramer​"It was on this to ... More >>

Hiding on the Backstreets, Part 2: Bruce Springsteen Brings The River, Born In the U.S.A., Tunnel of Love and Tom Joad to Town

Daniel KramerBruce Springsteen and Miami Steve van Zandt at Toyota Center, April 2009​ As Bruce Springsteen fans come to grips with the unfortunate reality that this past weekend's show in Buffalo, N.Y., may well have been the final offical tour date - although surely not the final show - from the ... More >>

Hiding on the Backstreets: Remembering Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band In Houston

Daniel KramerThe Boss at Toyota Center, April 2009​This past weekend's show in Buffalo, N.Y., was the last date on a nearly two-year (and two-album-supporting) trek by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which found them criss-crossing the country and the globe several times to rapt audiences ... More >>

Get Lit: Three More for That Already Groaning Springsteen Bookshelf

Daniel KramerThe Big Man, the Boss and Mighty Max Weinberg at Toyota Center, April 2009​ Just as Bruce Springsteen winds down a frenzied period of back-to-back album and tour marathon - despite the death of Springsteen's cousin/assistant tour manager earlier this week in Kansas City, he and the E ... More >>

9/9/09: Songs With a Certain Number in the Title

​As Hair Balls pointed out, we've only got three more of these weird number/same number/same number days left this century after today. Such chronological repetition appeals to the hidden obsessive-compulsive in all of us, so join us as we wash our hands nine times, lock the door nine times, and l ... More >>

Slide Show: Albums That Went Darker

​ For most rock acts, the traditional way to deal with success is to rework their lyrics, image and sound to become palatable to a larger audience. Usually this means brightening the subject matter, cleaning up the bad words, softening the sharp edges on those power chords and getting haircuts tha ... More >>

Houston 101: You Knew We Would Have To Do This One -- Liberty Hall

​Liberty Hall, by the 1970s, had somewhat survived its time as a church and an American Legion hall to become probably the hippest rock club in the city.Comfortably seedy, the Hall hosted legends like the Velvet Underground, Gram Parsons (with Neil Young and Linda Ronstadt sitting in), the Ramones ... More >>

Eyeballin: Bruce Springsteen: Road Trip - 40 Years of the Boss

While its packaging and title are fairly misleading - the cover photo of Road Trip is a contemporary concert shot, and there's nothing here covering anything past 1984's Born in the USA, this nearly three-hour, 2-DVD documentary is still a worthwhile title for the hardcore Boss lover looking to ... More >>

Aftermath: Fake Problems and Born Anchor at Walter's on Washington

Photos by Craig Hlavaty On a Monday night, all you can really look forward to is a decent evening of lackluster television and maybe some leftover barbecue from the weekend's flame-kissed debauchery. But last night at Walter's was the exact anecdote for a "case of da Mondays" in so many ways. In rec ... More >>

Springsteen Tickets for 20 Bucks

Chris Gray The line for Springsteen tickets shortly after noon - Rocks Off would assume there are still tickets available (they're in the upper deck, btw). Bring a couple of canned goods please. It's always nice to find something out from the daily, but when it involves Bruce Springsteen, ... More >>

WrestleMania: The Slideshow!!!!!

Photo by Dan Kramer"Have you ever seen a one-legged dog making its way down the street? If you've ever seen a one-legged dog than you've seen me," Bruce Springsteen sings in the title song to The Wrestler.Well, we've never seen a one-legged dog, to be honest, but we could have seen Mickey Rourke if ... More >>

Crooked Fingers

Aftermath: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Super Bowl XLIII

Part 1: "10th Avenue Freeze-Out" and "Born to Run" Score another one for the old folks. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's quarter-hour onstage at Super Bowl XLIII Sunday night may not have been the most contemporary booking the NFL could have landed - but, and we'll get to this in a minut ... More >>

Album of the Week: Bruce Springsteen's Working on a Dream

Bruce Springsteen is one prolific motherfucker. After all, he's produced one entire 4 CD box set (Tracks) of songs that he thought weren't good enough to be included on a regular album, and much of it still blew away anything in comparison. In that vein, we have Working on a Dream, coming littl ... More >>

Bruce Springsteen Confirms Second Houston Show in a Year

Alejandro Escovedo with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band,"Always a Friend," Toyota Center, April 14, 2008 After last year's sold-out show that ended with both Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely duetting with the Boss, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are headed back to Houston for ... More >>

Musicians Don't Have W. to Kick Around Anymore... So Now What?

Now that Lil' Bush has shuffled off the Presidential coil - or will in a couple of hours, anyway - and heads off into some Dallas burg to write his memoirs and reflect on his two wild and strange terms as Commander in Chief, it seems that the writers of so many protest songs can call off their guns ... More >>

New Tape Of A Young Springsteen Remembering His First Houston Gigs

Someone has put up on YouTube the long audio interview he did with a very young Bruce Springsteen in Phoenix on March 24th, 1974 (Way before the 1978 Phoenix show that included the legendarily filmed "Rosalita").In part two of the six-part interview, Springsteen talks about the reception he's been g ... More >>

Who Stole the Roll?

Alejandro Escovedo Spills the Beans on Houston Springsteen Duet

Last Night: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Toyota Center

Get Lit: For You: Original Stories and Photographs by Bruce Springsteen’s Legendary Fans, edited by Lawrence Kirsch

Drenched in Blog: Happy 25th, Thriller

Boss Fans Take Note: Springsteen Announces First Local Date Since 2002

Bruce Springsteen, Magic

CD Review

No Surrender: Bruce Springsteen Hates Radio Almost as Much as You Do

Glory Days

Tortoise & Bonnie "Prince" Billy

The Brave and the Bold

Beastie Boys

To the 5 Boroughs (Capitol)

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Monday, November 4

Bruce Springsteen

The Rising (Columbia)

Listen In

Clandestine -- Dave Nevling and the Blues Kats -- Tommy Dardar and the Sheetrockers

St. Boss

Static