Reviews
Artists are defined by two central fundamentals: their songs and concerts. For years, concerts were used as promotional tools to sell records, bring awareness to the act and hopefully sell a few t-shirts. Little money was made and it was more or less a brief glimpse at their favorite artists in the flesh. When the Beatles played Shea Stadium in 1965, they played a mere 29-minutes. As the sixties progressed, the Grateful Dead appeared and within a few years, Led Zeppelin took concerts to new heights with festival grooviness and flashing arena-rock presence. For bands like the Dead and Zeppelin, the records weren't enough. The concert became an extension of the record and in many ways, a more vital experience. Tapes were shared, stories told and myths were born. In the entire rock era, no other artist has a greater and more extensive legend than Bruce Springsteen. From stories of intimate in-your-face clubs shows early in his career to the misquoted myth of the five-hour show, the adoration and fervent followings Springsteen has amassed over the decades is almost unparalleled and on full display in a new book chronicling the 1978 Darkness on the Edge of Town tour, The Light in Darkness.
thelightinDarkness.com |
To this day, I can't go to a Springsteen show without someone telling me a tall tale about how they saw Springsteen "play an eight-hour show…and then he took out a broom and swept the floor of the club." It's almost laughable, but understandable. In 1978, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band embarked on their most discussed and legendary tour of their career in support of Darkness on the Edge of Town. Now, to fully understand the importance of this tour, a brief history needs to be given. After having a small cult following, Springsteen broke into the mainstream with Born To Run in late 1975 and a lawsuit by Springsteen to dissolve his contract with manager Mike Appel. This led to a countersuit where Appel kept Springsteen from recording a follow-up to Born To Run until it the legal proceedings were resolved. Once both parties came to an agreement in the spring of 1977, Springsteen and the E Street Band took to the studio recording upwards of thirty songs which were finally released in May of 1978. While the 1977 tour is viewed by many as some of the most staggering the band would ever do, it set the template for the 1978 tour. Springsteen's Born in the USA trek may have been more epic and his jaunt in support of The River more exhausting and epic, none of them would have been possible without the '78 tour. Springsteen decided to blend his new material with his older material which led to show times around the three-hour mark. To this day, three-hour shows are largely unprecedented, but in 1978 it was virtually unheard of. It's one thing to do a lengthy show and another to keep the audience's attention, which Springsteen and the E Street Band did with ease. This was also the last tour where the band played theaters as arenas were necessary come 1980 in places other than the Northeast.
The Light in Darkness is a document of the 1978 tour and in all honesty, it's surprising that Springsteen and his management team hasn't done something similar before now. In their need to always do things on specific anniversaries, they often miss the boat and low and behold, a group of fans beat them to the punch. What provides The Light in Darkness with an authentic voice is the first hand reports and stories it provides. These aren't so much embellished accounts, but earnest and brutally expressive stories of how music became something more than a distraction but a life force. I'll admit, some of the stories feel repetitive and a little too much emphasis is given to the Darkness album in the text. Yet, to the credit of the writers, they were trying to give the 1978 tour context and it's impossible to do so without a look at the Darkness record. However, as you page through the book, it's impossible to deny the sincerity of the entries. These are truly revealing stories no one can deny and the intensity of some of them match Springsteen's music and concert performances. The book very easily could have turned into a messiah-like worship of Springsteen, but by revealing the stories of where everyone was at a certain point in their lives, gives the book a lift up from your standard fan publication.
The real treasures of the book are the hundreds of pictures and memorabilia that fill the pages in between the stories. Newspaper ads for the shows, flyers for on-sale dates, pins from the Madison Square Garden stand, concert tickets, specially made posters, backstage passes and special promotional items not seen for years. Aside from a time machine, this is the closest anyone can get to truly placing themselves in the thick of the action from over three-decades back. Up until now, the closest anyone could get to reliving this tour was through bootleg recordings, but now The Light in Darkness puts the tour into perspective in a little over two-hundred pages. The soft cover book is full of many revealing pictures, stories and loads of insight into the tour that truly defined the Springsteen legend. For anyone who was unable to attend the 1978 tour, The Light in Darkness is an essential buy as it places you in the thick of the action. For those who were lucky enough to be there, then it's the greatest souvenir they ever could have.
Anthony Kuzminski
antimusic.com
Illuminating a dream in the dark
A fan of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band for more than 30 years, writer and editor Lawrence Kirsch released the photo-heavy coffee-table book For You in 2007. Compiled from hundreds of interviews Kirsch conducted with Springsteen followers of various ages and from various walks of life, the book offered a fan's-eye view of Springsteen's music, and provided insight into its significance in the lives of listeners.
For You ably laid the groundwork for The Light in Darkness, Kirsch's new tome, which follows the earlier book's fan-interview methodology, this time in service of an examination of Springsteen & the E Street Band's groundbreaking 1978 tour.
The Darkness on the Edge of Town tour kicked off on May 23, 1978, at Shea's Performing Arts Center. Kirsch was there, and it was this show that turned him into a devout Springsteen follower.
Jeff Miers
Buffalo News
A popular subplot in The Light in Darkness - I touch on it in the essay I wrote for the book - is that there are a lot of people out there who really, really wish they were around and of concert-going age in 1978. That was the year Bruce Springsteen released Darkness on the Edge of Town and mounted a seven-month tour that many fans say eclipsed any other before or since, and cemented Springsteen's reputation as a live act for the ages.
But there were also a lot of people who were around, who experienced that tour, and who say to this day that it changed their life. It's those people whose reminiscences make up the bulk of the stories in editor Lawrence Kirsch's latest fan-driven Springsteen anthology, and believe me: If you weren't there, they will make you feel worse.
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Oddly enough, though, like the Darkness album itself - on which Springsteen's ragged baritone manages to wring hope out of the direst of circumstances - the stories in Kirsch's book make you feel better at the same time, to know that an artist could touch people in the way Springsteen did during that seminal tour, and still does for newer generations of fans.
It's worth getting your hands on The Light in Darkness for the amazing photos alone, both amateur and professional - they capture Springsteen and his bandmates at turns both jubilant and intense, often possessed of a fervor that seems to go beyond religious. The Springsteen in these photos was at the top of his game, and the best of these pictures, with his face taut and his guitar thrust forward like a weapon of mass destruction, paint a picture of man so in command of a room it looks like he could make it spontaneously combust at will.
But it's the stories, in my opinion, that make up the heart of the book, just as they did in Kirsch's last collection, For You. That book was more general, which meant a wider variety of submissions, some more moving or funny than those you'll find in The Light in Darkness. But if there's a certain sameness that comes from this volume's laser focus, it's just indicative of what a galvanizing force this album and tour were to the fans who got to experience it.
Of course, there are any number who say "their" show was the best of the bunch - fans from Boston, New York, Philly, New Jersey (of course) and even Augusta, Maine all make good cases. But a long and rollicking account of Springsteen's famous Agora Theater concert in Cleveland by Brian Schmuck may best capture the way these shows grabbed people and haven't let them go to this day. Writes Schmuck of the famous "meeting with God" story Springsteen tells during "Growin' Up":
"Still 30 years after the show, when I hear this song played, like Pavlov's dog, I get a physical reaction … it's when Bruce comes to the end of the story, where he belts out the message he got from God himself about what he should do with his life, 'And then I heard just three words: Let it rock!' Hearing these words always send a release of adrenaline or endorphins shooting through me in waves."
The Light in Darkness isn't only about the tour, though. Plenty of the writing focuses on the album, so different from Born to Run and its lyrical tales of escape. Darkness, which deals with what happens after you realize there may be nowhere to escape to, is, well, dark - and the stories in this book show how much its songs have meant to people going through dark times.
"Darkness is haunting, listening to it hurts," writes Stefanie Oepen. "It opens a wound deep in my heart and then tells me how to mend." And Annabel Nanninga, a Dutch woman who says the album pulled her out of severe depression at 15, says she "found my fears and worries expressed on this album, better than anybody could have put it."
The book also has its share of untold stories - Dick Roberts reveals he's the one who provided the stretcher the first time Bruce pulled his "exhaustion" shtick, only to bounce up again, guitar humming (the stretcher was never returned, not that Roberts cared). And photographer Mark Neuling tells of visiting Bruce's parents' home in California with a mutual friend, and something that surprised him after having heard of the strained relationship between the singer and his father, Douglas:
Douglas "took me into a small area just off the living room. It was a shrine. Gold and platinum records hung from the walls … as Douglas Springsteen showed me around the awards and industry accolades amassed by his son, I couldn't help but feel the pride he held for his boy."
The Light… boasts its share of professional writers, including "A History of Violence" screenwriter Josh Olson and "Runaway Dream" author Louis Masur. (And me, I guess.) Those pieces are a welcome part of Kirsch's attempts to piece together the Darkness puzzle, but it's the regular fans whose words pack the greatest punch. "I had no idea what I was witnessing at the time, but I felt sanctified," writes super-fan Gina Giambone of her first Springsteen concert, capturing the feelings of so many of her fellow converted.
In the end, The Light in Darkness may not have the emotional heft of the wider-ranging For You. But as a time capsule and testament to the power and the glory of what may be the greatest chapter in a storied career, it's an invaluable souvenir for those who were there at a time, as John Huffman writes, "when the E Street Band was young and so were we."
And as for those of us who weren't there? If you've been touched by the album and by Springsteen's work since, that doesn't matter. "I may have missed the Darkness on the Edge of Town tour," writes Jeffrey Blout, "but it didn't miss me." Get this book and it won't have to miss you either.
Peter Chianca
blogs.wickedlocal.com/springsteen/
2010, l'anno di Darkness. Ma non si preoccupino i fan del Boss perché, sebbene anche questo tour sia giunto al termine e Bruce abbia espresso l'intenzione di prendersi una lunga pausa durante la quale lavorerà alla propria autobiografia, il futuro prossimo si preannuncia ricco di uscite. Ma le novità riguardano soprattutto Darkness On The Edge Of Town, del quale nel dato loro popolarità e fortuna. «Il libro regalerà ai lettori almeno una piccola prospettiva di quello che abbiamo vissuto nel '78» gli fa eco LawrenceKirsch. «La connessione e il legame creato tra il musicista e il suo pubblico durante questo tour ha definito il nuovo punto di riferimento per tutti gli album e i tour che sarebbero seguiti». Nonostante l'umore scuro dell'album,il Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour è stato uno dei più esplosivi dell'intera carriera di Springsteen: prova ne sono le straordinarie immagini che ritraggono il Boss e la E Street Band al top della forma, oltre a svariati memorabilia, le liste dettagliate delle tappe della tournée e delle canzoni suonate e la cronaca di alcuni dei suoi più celebri show come quelli tenuti all'Agora di Cleveland, al Roxy di Los Angeles e al Winterland Ballroom di San Francisco. C'è persino un'intervista rilasciata al deejay Dave Herman della stazione radio WNEW nel luglio del '78, nella quale Bruce racconta di quella famosa notte in cui lui e i suoi ragazzi imbrattarono con della vernice spray il gigantesco cartellone pubblicitario di Darkness On The Edge Of Town che campeggiava su Sunset Strip a Los Angeles. Insomma c'è tutto quello che avreste voluto sapere su un disco epocale e un evento live unico e irripetibile il tutto raccontato attraverso le parole di chi c'era, di quei fortunati seguaci la cui percezione della musica è stata segnata in modo indelebile dal potente rombo di una delle macchine da rock più micidiale che sia mai esistita: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. 2010 verrà pubblicata una edizione deluxe che promette di essere altrettanto sostanziosa di quella uscita nel 2005 per la Columbia in occasione del trentesimo anniversario di Born To Run.
www.jamonline.it
Another album you don't really need an excuse to listen to is Darkness on the Edge of Town. But regardless of that, you sure get a fine excuse after flipping through Lawrence Kirsch's new fan tale compilation: The Light in Darkness. A couple of years ago Lawrence published the book For You, which was about Bruce Springsteen in general and consisted of nothing but the fans' own stories and tales about their Bruce experiences. The new book is the exact same concept, but focuses entirely on the Darkness era.
So unlike Runaway Dream, in The Light in Darkness facts and research don't play any role at all. It's all about the emotion and how that album and tour made you feel. And if these fan accounts are any indication (actually, they are all the proof you could ever ask for), 1978 was and always will be the time when everything clicked for the most people when it comes to Bruce. These tales all tell the story of the unprecedented magic and intensity that was the Darkness era. And very often, the writing lives up to its subject and sends shivers down your spine and makes you check your CD shelf for that Agora or Roxy bootleg that you haven't listened to in two years.
Unlike the first book, it seems like this time Lawrence hasn't put any limit on how many words the stories were allowed to be. Some of them take up several pages and usually they are not a paragraph too long. And even if they were, it helps the reading experience that every single page is enriched with pictures that in most cases have never been published in a book before.
Altogether, everything from the paper quality to the layout of this book gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling while you devour the words. Great care seems to have been put into every detail. It's just a beautiful publication that fully lives up to its predecessor. That one is said to sell for good money on eBay, and I wouldn't be surprised if The Light in Darkness will fare the same way.
Karsten Andersen
GreasyLake.org
The Light In Darkness
In my entire life, only once have I lined up overnight in order to buy tickets for anything. It was 1978, and my university buddies and I took turns holding our spots in line, eventually scoring two sets of six seats on the floor at the historic Montreal Forum for Bruce's November 8, 1978 concert. That was a long time ago, and I have to confess I don't remember much about the show, nor do I think it changed my life, but I have no doubt that it was the most exhilarating performance I ever saw. I also know that it was everything rock and roll should be and I walked out of the Forum knowing I would be a Bruce fan for life.
After all the hype and the well deserved breakthrough success of 1975's 'Born to Run', and the subsequent frustration and near career death experience of his legal battles with Mike Appel in 1976 and 1977, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were finally free to resume their assault on the rock and roll world. They returned to the recording studio, and in 1978, Bruce delivered his latest masterpiece 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' to Columbia Records.
On May 23rd, 1978, Bruce and the boys set out on a ferocious seven month tour of North America in support of the album.
Lawrence Kirsch's great new book 'The Light In Darkness' documents this tour through a collection of photographs and essays submitted by fans who, each in their own way, have strong emotional connections to and recollections of this tour. I'm about half-way through the book, and I'm struck by all the passion and detailed memories people have regarding the Darkness album and tour. Reading this book has inspired this week's Friday Bruce Fix. It would also make a great companion piece to the much anticipated commemorative Darkness box set, with a remastered audio disc, full length concert DVD and any other goodies that might be hiding somewhere in a vault. (Come on Brucie... please???)
One of Bruce's greatest talents is his ability to write, record and perform in a way that enables forming powerful connections with his fans, who in turn connect with important people in their lives and build families and communities. For a lot of people, Darkness and its tour came along at a time in their lives when they were figuring out who they were, where they were going, what they valued, where they drew the lines, and what they believed was possible.
It is no coincidence that Bruce and his band were at the same point in their evolution. It is something that naturally happens as we transition fully into adulthood. Continuing to this day, I believe that people who were too young in 1978 to notice, or perhaps had not even been born, are able to go back to the Darkness album and tour and make those connections if they are at such similar points in their lives. The themes Bruce dealt with on that album are easy for us to identify with and relate to in our own lives. Those songs become our songs and our stories.
Reading Lawrence Kirsch's book reminds me that this band was on a mission, taking no prisoners, running from town to town simultaneously discovering and proving their greatness, and redefining what a rock concert could be.
Rick Shea
FridayBruceFix.com
Toledoans pay tribute to 'The Boss' in new book
Toledoans Chris Kozak and John Rockwood have been to a combined 19 Bruce Springsteen concerts.
Both men have been fans of "The Boss" since the '70s and both have passed on their appreciation to their children. Most recently, they each contributed memories to Lawrence Kirsch's book, "The Light in Darkness."
Kirsch, of Montreal, Quebec, created the book to be a touchstone or reference point to Springsteen fans across the globe. He works as a productions coordinator for a graphic arts and communications company and said he has spoken to many fans in the 30-plus years since his first Springsteen concert, part of the 1975 "Born to Run" tour.
"We'd all go into concerts feeling like we had a few friends there," Kirsch said. "And we'd leave with brand-new friends."
Kirsch's first book, "For You," chronicles Springsteen's journeys from 1975-2006, as seen through the recollections and personal photographs of fans. "Light in Darkness," focuses on the "Darkness at the Edge of Town" tour in 1978.
Kirsch said "Darkness" is his "favorite album, favorite tour, favorite song." Following the grand symphonic "Born to Run," it is a coming of age album, a darker album with harsh, guttural guitars.
Kozak's favorite song "Badlands" is the opening track on the CD. His essay, "Poor Man Wanna Be Rich" is a comparative reflection of the relevance of his favorite lyrics on the economy of 1978 with the situation today.
"Poor man wanna be rich,
Rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied
Till he rules everything"
He said Springsteen's lyrics open themselves up for interpretation and are still relevant years later.
Kozak was approached by Kirsch after he had written an article for Toledo Free Press on April 5 about the Springsteen exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
"To write about something I love and get it out to more people, it was a no-brainer," said Kozak, community relations manager for Columbia Gas of Ohio. "I said 'I could have it done this afternoon."
Kirsch left the topic entirely up to Kozak, as he did with all his authors. He accepted submissions through his Web site.
Rockwood, a project coordinator at Hines, has photographed bands from the Rolling Stones to B.B King and said he has always been a fan Springsteen. He recalls a concert at the Toledo Sports Arena in 1977 where Springsteen grabbed his chest and fell on stage. Men in white coats came out, put him on a stretcher and said, "Bruce had a heart attack and the only way to bring him back is to scream."
Rockwood, who contributed photos, said that the four-and-a-half-hour show was "the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life."
He had pictures featured in Kirsch's first book, after sharing them with a contributor to "For You."
Kirsch, who has seen Springsteen more than 80 times, presented a copy of his first book to Springsteen. Kirsch said Springsteen was amazed to see how many of his fans wrote their comments.
"[Springsteen is] an unbelievable performer and humanitarian," Kirsch said. "He's so selfless in terms of his time and charity."
Rockwood and Kozak are passing their appreciation of Springsteen to their children.
Rockwood remembers his kids yelling, "Hey Dad, Bruce Springsteen's on T.V.," and Kozak hopes to take his 8-year old and 10-year old to a concert in a few weeks.
"The Light in Darkness" is available online at www.thelightindarkness.com. Kirsch said he has had orders from as far away as Lebanon and Turkey, places Springsteen has never played, but where people are still affected by his songs.
Alissa Romstadt
Toledo Free Press
New Springsteen Book Chronicles Darkness Tour
Lawrence Kirsch has just published The Light in Darkness, a collection of fans’ recollections from the Darkness tour. Accompanied by previously unseen amateur photos (including a few shots by Scene's Anastasia Pantsios), the book of anecdotal essays is more loving tribute to the Boss than critical assessment of his life and music. It includes essays on both of his stops in Cleveland: first at the Agora and then at Richfield Coliseum.
“The intention is to try to give the average fan who wasn’t there a taste of what that tour was all about,” he says of the book. “I get as big a kick out of reading the stories as much as any other fan. One thing I can’t stress enough is the unbelievable generosity of these Springsteen fans, who submitted all these amazing stories and photos. It’s a labor of love. There’s an underlying message of honest and faithfulness and loyalty to the band. I’m preaching to the converted so if you’re a Bruce fan, you’re going to like the book.”
Jeff Niesel
Cleveland Scene
New Bruce Springsteen Superpicturecoffeetablebook, The Light In Darkness
When gorgeous Springsteen picture/coffee table book The Light in Darkness arrived on our desk last week we shipped it straight over to superfan Matt Soniak who knows enough about the Boss to fill a book of his own. Soniak spent the weekend combing through Light. His review follows.
thelightinDarkness.com |
To see Bruce Springsteen and the heartstoppin’, pants droppin’, hard rockin’, booty shakin’, earth quakin’, love makin’, Viagra takin’, history makin’, legendary E Street Band is not only to see a mere concert or be entertained by a band. It is to be baptized—no matter how many times you’ve done it (me: 9, Chris Christie: 120)—into a cult whose fervor and foaming-at-the-mouth enthusiasm knows no bounds: the E Street Nation.
E Streeters love to talk about their Boss, but sometimes it’s so hard. Whether it’s a news story, album review or even the most casual of conversations, once a member of the Nation gets a chance to mention Springsteen, its all goes to hell and you wind up sitting trough gushing, blubbering, “Rosalita”-fueled, blood- and cum-stained love letter to a 60-year-old guy from Jersey. Were I the kind of guy that could step back and look at the situation objectively, I might say that it’s all sort of unhealthy. However, I am not that kind of guy and am, in fact, a guy that makes a not-depressing sum of money each year to give verbal beejes to Mr. Springsteen in various publications (and for that I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth).
Lawrence Kirsch’s mammoth (weighing in at 4.5 pounds on my bathroom scale) The Light in Darkness embraces—nay, celebrates—the Springsteen devotee’s tendency to go a little off the handle by giving a variety of fans 208 pages to share their stories about Bruce’s 4th album, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and the legendary 8-month, 117-show tour that supported it. There are stories from semi-famous people (Josh Olson, screenwriter for A History of Violence) and not-famous-at-all people (some guy named Ralph). There are stories about endless teenage nights driving around with the windows open and Springsteen in the 8-track player and there are stories about finally understanding “Adam Raised a Cain” after years of feuding with your father. There are stories that are happy and stories that are sad and everything in between. And yes, there are some cheesy stories, but every one of them comes across as so heart-felt and sincere you can imagine the twinkle in each author’s eye and the madness in their souls.
The pictures alone—200+ shots from pro and amateur photographers who were at the shows in ’78—are worth the price of admission. Bruce loses a few cool points for losing his Born to Run-era beard, but Little Stevie and the Big Man dance across the pages like stone-cold bad asses.
Like Kirsch’s last book For You, the book is only available at its website and is limited to 2,500 copies. One is already dog eared and drool stained on my coffee table, so grab a remaining one while you can.
Matt Soniak
Philadelphia Weekly
Remembering Bruce Springsteen's 1978 Dallas Convention Centre Performance...
Last week, a gem of a book arrived in the office--well, a gem for any Bruce fans in the building, which, I'm pretty sure is everyone?
In my clouded perspective, at least, yeah.
Anyway, here's why it's interesting: The Light in Darkness, as it's called, features on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 1978 tour for Darkness on the Edge of Town, the band's fourth album--and, more specifically, on the band's stops while touring to support it.
And, of course, included in the book--which features 100 memoirs/essays and 200 original photographs taken from the tour--
is the band's July 12, 1978 show at the Convention Centre in Dallas.
Pete Freedman
Dallas Observer
Just has he did with the incredible self-published coffee-table effort For You, Kirsch puts together a fine work combining fan remembrances and around 200 mostly never-before-seen photographs, this time focusing on the 1978 Darkness record and tour. ...if you love the starkness of Darkness, it's a worthwhile library addition.
Bob Ruggiero
Houston Press
New Springsteen Book Chronicles the Darkness Tour
It would be corny — but true — to say that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band really did have to prove it all night in 1978, the year The Boss' fourth album, "Darkness on the Edge of Town," was released.
A lawsuit with his former manager, Mike Appel, kept Bruce from recording for three years, an eternity at that time. When the album was finally released, it was angry, dark and raw, so much different-sounding than the big sound and grand themes of "Born to Run." Perhaps because of things happening in my own 17-year-old life at the time, or perhaps because of the pure power and urgency of its songs, Darkness remains my favorite Springsteen album, and the tour that followed is, I think, rightly considered by many to be Bruce’s most powerful.
Now photographer and editor Lawrence Kirsch has immortalized the Darkness tour in a beautiful new book, "The Light in Darkness." The book features more than 200 photos and 100 original stories that chronicle the seminal Darkness tour (including, as a disclaimer, one by me). Legendary shows from the tour like the Cleveland Agora show, Winterland in San Francisco, and the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, get their just due.
The book is a reminder of a different time, before we all knew what setlist Bruce was playing every night, when information about upcoming tours came through scanning ads in the newspaper or religiously perusing the "Random Notes" column in Rolling Stone magazine, to a time when you could leave a concert feeling your life had changed forever.
Jean Mikle
Asbury Park Press, New Jersey
thelightinDarkness.com |
New book on Bruce Springsteen's Darkness era
I received a copy of Lawrence Kirsch's new book "The Light in Darkness" tonight and all I can say is Wow! Lawrence, whose book "For You" from less than two years ago is totally sold out (a copy just sold for more than $250 on eBay), has done it again with this book.
The new book, takes a special fan-focused look at Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town - the album and the tour. Incredible pictures, incredible stories. It's going to take hours to go through everything in this book. You've listened to the bootlegs: Agora 1978, Passaic, Winterland etc., now relive those magical nights with incredible photos and stories. The book covers the entire Darkness Tour, from the first show on May 23, 1978 in Buffalo to the final show on Jan. 1, 1979 in Cleveland. Just about every show is covered with fans' stories and photos that I'm sure have never been published anywhere.
As I sit here and thumb through it, I can't say enough good things about it. The book is 208 pages.
You see people posting on BTX looking for copies of the For You book. That had a limited run of 2,000 copes and and Lawrence tells me this books is only 2,000 copies also. It will make an awesome gift for Bruce fans, especially anyone who was fortunate to experience the Darkness Tour.
Awesome job Lawrence. You've done it again.
Stan Goldstein
blog.nj.com/springsteen
I did spend a lot of time listening to Darkness on the cassette player of my Chevy Nova while flooring it on the Atlantic City Expressway on the way home from high school every afternoon. And there was also that bootleg tape from an August 1978 Darkness tour stop at the Agora Theater in Cleveland that I played as I waited impatiently to see Springsteen live for the first time in December 1980 at the Spectrum.
That's the show that starts off with Eddie Cochrane's "Summertime Blues" and is chronicled in great detail in The Light in Darkness, Lawrence Kirsch's coffee-table book of fan recollections and superb concert photos.
Dan DeLuca
The Philadelphia Inquirer
For the second time, Lawrence Kirsch has enabled Bruce Springsteen fans to connect in a very special way. As he did with his previous Springsteen book For You, Kirsch solicited stories and pictures pertaining to the golden era of Darkness On The Edge Of Town and is two-for-two with the production of The Light In Darkness.
Much like your favorite fellow Springsteen fans, The Light In Darkness features stories that come in all shapes and sizes. The common theme throughout the book is the sincerity of the submissions. Sure, some are better written than others but that matters not. There are friend stories and loner stories and love stories and break-up stories and sad stories and happy stories, and yet they are all of a common voice. The very best parts of the Springsteen community are represented in this book.
And then there are the pictures. An overwhelming majority of the photographs in this book have never been seen before. The pictures alone are worth the price of admission.
The Darkness tour is pretty much chronicled in pictures from beginning to end. It’s the photographs that capture the urgency of this man and this band and this music in 1978.
Shared art is powerful. Yet again, Lawrence Kirsch has enabled us to share a place and time that deserves to be held in high esteem with the release of The Light In Darkness.
Tom Cunningham
The Bruce Brunch
www.1057thehawk.com
I was speaking at the Glory Days conference at Monmouth University in West Long Branch. I had a really nice time meeting Springsteen-interested academics, musicians, and interested parties. I was also quite happy to discover a new book of photos and essays called The Light in Darkness which made me painfully, but happily, nostalgic about the 1978 Darkness on The Edge of Town tour, one of the greatest experiences of my life. The photos of the tour are fantastic and while the essays naturally vary in quality, some of them are real gems. "It was like lightning flashing through the darkness and the band was the thunder," writes Ron Wells. "I had never seen any performer so full of energy and joy. He was definitely on a mission. This was not just a gig for him; it was freedom and exhilaration personified." It's on large format 9.25" x 12" EuroArt Silk 200m paper stock and contains more than 200 photographs reproduced from the original negatives and slides.
Eric Alterman
The Nation
www.thenation.com
Like its predecessor For You, Lawrence Kirsch's The Light In Darkness is a beautifully put-together, limited edition coffee-table sized collection of reminisces from Bruce Springsteen fans. What makes this a must-have for the Springsteen fan on your holiday shopping list are the hundreds of photographs here — many of which were shot by fans as well, and thus are seen here for the very first time.
The difference with The Light In Darkness is the fact that this volume focuses specifically on the 1978 tour behind the album Darkness On The Edge Of Town. As most longtime Boss fans will tell you, this was the tour where Springsteen and the E Street Band largely solidified their reputation as one of the greatest live attractions in rock.
Glen Boyd
blogcritics.org
History is Made At Night
If you identify with the approximately quarter of the crowd last night (October 3) that treated the rendering of 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' in sequence as if it were a sacramental offering, or if you count yourself as more in line with the other 75% who may wonder why people are so relentless in blathering on about a 7+ month period of time that occurred over three decades ago, you really should check out Lawrence Kirsch's The Light in Darkness.
If you are familiar with For You, then you know the quality of the presentation. Suffice it to say that if a Springsteen concert these days is a ticket to a time machine, then last night melted 31 years off my life for approximately 50 minutes.
And Mr. Kirsch's most recent book accomplishes with pulp and print what we were able to witness in the flesh last night.
It's that good.
Anthony Fischetti
The Promised Land
Backstreets.com
Adam Zagoria on Hoops, Recruiting and Rock and Roll
In the past three days, I was lucky enough to witness the Yankees celebrating their 27th world championship with a parade down the Canyon of Heroes; LeBron James making his lone Big Apple appearance of the season by dropping 33 on the Knicks; and Bruce Springsteen closing out a two-night stop at Madison Square Garden by playing The River in its entirety.
thelightinDarkness.com |
If only the lowly Knicks stoked the New York fan base as much as Bruce.
I’ve probably seen 12-15 Springsteen shows in my life and this one ranks among the best. There wasn’t an empty seat in the joint.
Maybe it was the fact that he was following the Yankees and LeBron. Maybe it was that the E Street Band played The River — an epic, brooding, transitional double album — live for the first time ever. Maybe it was that he was closing out his run in New York.
Whatever the case, Bruce put on a special show Sunday.
I saw Bruce recently at Giants Stadium when he played Darkness on the Edge of Town, which was also tremendous, especially “Racing in the Street.” Speaking of that album, we highly recommend Lawrence Kirsch's new book, “The Light in Darkness,” about that album and subsequent tour.
www.zagsblog.com
NUOVO LIBRO IN ARRIVO
Lawrence Kirsch ha ultimato il suo nuovo libro intitolato THE LIGHT IN DARKNESS, che vuole celebrare il disco Darkness on the Edge of Town e il periodo del 1978, quello del relativo tour.
Come "For You", il nuovo libro è costruito sulla base delle originali testimonianze dei fans che all'epoca hanno avuto la fortuna di assistere a quei straordinari show e che oggi consentono ai lettori di rivivere almeno in parte le stesse emozioni.
Memorabilia e oltre 200 inedite foto mozzafiato di Bruce & The E Street Band scattate per lo più da fans arricchiscono questo splendido volume.
Il libro verrà stampato in edizione limitata da collezione e non sarà disponibile nei negozi.
lohad.it
The Light in Darkness is a spectacular addition to the Springsteen print library. The chronological presentation provides seamless narrative flow and the photos – including the pre-show shots from Winterland and Augusta and the marquee and ticket stub shots – are just phenomenal. The book is the ultimate retrospective tour program. A rock and roll time capsule. If you haven’t already done it, order yourself a copy, put on those ‘78 radio broadcasts, and immerse yourself in one of rock’s greatest bands during a seminal season.
Jeff Blout
BTX Backstreets.com
My copies arrived yesterday and I can confirm it is an ESSENTIAL keepsake for anyone who cares not only about
Bruce and the band in 1978, but also gaining insight into perhaps the single greatest rock and roll tour of all time.
The layout, photos and vignettes are totally enjoyable, including a surprising memory involving Adele and Douglas Springsteen.
If a D31 box set does appear for Christmas 2009, you'll want The Light in Darkness right by your side.
Johnny Saulovich
BTX Backstreets.com
THE LIGHT IN DARKNESS
Lawrence Kirsch Communications, creator of the recent book For You, has completed work on a new book called The Light in Darkness, which focuses specifically on the Darkness on the Edge of Town era. Like For You, the book features concert photography and stories from fans. Kirsch tells Backstreets, "This tribute to Darkness is something special: more passionate stories, breathtaking never-seen-before photos, and some discovered artwork and memorabilia gems that will be of great interest to fans no matter when they were introduced to Bruce's music."
Backstreets.com
Bonjour amis et fins connaisseurs de notre ami "The Boss"
Après le succès phénoménal du livre "For You", Lawrence Kirsch sort un 2ème opus, The Light in Darkness.
Je suis sûr qu'il sera à la hauteur du premier – pour ma part, je l'ai déjà commandé. Si vous n'avez pu vous procurer l'édition Collector "For You Bruce" et que vous aimeriez en acheter un (ou plusieurs), faites-le-moi savoir.
A bientôt pour de nouvelles aventures au pays de la Springsteenmania.
RM
Geneve, Switzerland
Lawrence; Just checked out the web site on the Light in Darkness. It looks brilliant and you have taken the art of letting those who love, appreciate and understand this very special artist and have been with him through the darkest times to a depth that has not been captured before. After Born to Run there were many who thought he could never to get to that special place again, and he did with lesser numbers on the journey then before, but those who were with him have and will be with him forever.
Mike Bradley
Mayor Sarnia, Ontario
Nous l'attendions avec impatience et vous l'avions annoncé il y a plusieurs mois en exclusivité : The Light in Darkness un nouveau livre consacré à Bruce Springsteen et édité par Lawrence Kirsch, est enfin disponible ...
Après le superbe For You ce livre qui représente encore une fois une masse de travail hallucinante ne peut que figurer en bonne place dans la bibliothèque de tous vrais fans de Bruce.
Une maquette superbe, plus de 200 photos (pour la plupart inédites) et de nombreux témoignages de fans sur leurs réactions à cette période étrange durant laquelle pendant 3 ans (et après le succès phénoménal de l'album "Born To Run") Bruce restera muet.
Un éclairage aussi sur les premiers shows de 3 heures (et plus) que Bruce réalisera pour la dernière fois dans des salles à taille humaine alors qu'à l'horizon se profile déjà "Born In The USA" et sa future tournée 84/85 des stades.
The Light in Darkness un livre à acheter les yeux fermés avant de les ouvrir en grand !
www.brucespringsteen.fr
Lawrence Kirsch, Herausgeber des 2007 erschienenen Springsteen-Buches „For You“, arbeitet derzeit an einem neuen Projekt, welches ausschließlich Bruces Meilenstein-Album „Darkness On The Edge Of Town“ und der dazugehörigen, legendären 1978er-Konzerttournee gewidmet ist. Neben Geschichten und Erinnerungen von Fans sowie zahlreichen bisher unveröffentlichten Fotos wird „The Light in Darkness“ auch Abbildungen seltener Schallplatten und Memorabilien aus dieser Zeit enthalten.
lostintheflood.priv.at
NIEUW SPRINGSTEEN BOEK IN DE MAAK
Lawrence Kirsch, de maker van het BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN boek For You, zet zijn tanden in een nieuwe uitgave, die zich focust op het
Darkness On The Edge Of Town tijdperk.
De titel van het nieuwe boek is The Light In Darkness. Net als bij For You staan daarin de verhalen en concertfoto’s van de Bruce Springsteen fans centraal. Maar in dit geval toegespitst op de het album Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
Door de donkere rand was Darkness On The Edge Of Town een beetje een moeilijke plaat voor de doorsnee luisteraar, maar voor de fans van Bruce was het juist een lp die ze helemaal in het hart sloten. Mede hierdoor wordt de nieuwe uitgave volgens Kirsch nog bijzonderder dan For You.
‘Met meer gepassioneerde verhalen, adembenemende, niet eerder gepubliceerde foto’s en artwork en memorabilia die van groot belang zijn voor de fans. Het maakt niet uit wanneer zij met de muziek van The Boss hebben kennisgemaakt.’
Kirsch roept fans van over de hele wereld dan ook weer op om een bijdrage aan het boek te leveren.
oor.nl
The Light in Darkness wordt een nieuw boek van Lawrence Kirsch, de maker van For You.
Net als bij het vorige boek vraagt Kirsch weer Springsteen-fans om bijdragen (foto's en verhalen) in te sturen.
BeTrue.nl
De auteur van het Bruce Springsteen boek For You, Lawrence Kirsch, werkt aan een nieuwe uitgave van het boek.
Deze zal zich focussen op de periode rond het album Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
Het boek gaat The Light In Darkness heten. Het concentreert zich dus op het Darkness On The Edge Of Town periode.
De plaat is door de fans altijd als meesterwerk bestempeld. Het boek zal vooral verhalen en concertfoto's uit deze periode bevatten.
Fans van over de hele wereld mogen een bijdrage leveren aan het boek met ingezonden materiaal.
muziek.nl
The Light In Darkness
I februar hadde jeg en liten sak angående oppfølgeren til boken "For You", som ble utgitt for noen år tilbake. Oppfølgeren vil ta for seg historier og beretninger rundt albumet "Darkness On The Edge Of Town", som ble utgitt i 1978. Mannen bak bøkene, Lawrence Kirsch, ønsker historier fra Springsteen fans fra denne epoken.
Sjekk siden som er opprettet i forbindelse med prosjektet: The Light in Darkness.
badlandso.page.tl
Darkness -- Like Never Before
After publishing "For You," the wonderful collection of fan stories and photographs spanning Bruce Springsteen's career, Montreal author Lawrence Kirsch once again has thrown open the door and invited fans to share perspectives for a new book exclusively devoted to Darkness on the Edge of Town and the subsequent 1978 tour.
friendsofthespringsteencollection.org
"The Light in Darkness" -- Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band put on a show for the ages Sunday night at the Bradley Center. Though I've been accused by some (you know who you are) of over-covering that event, I feel it's my duty -- given that it may be a long time before Bruce heads this way again -- to recommend this book by Lawrence Kirsch. The 208-page tome chronicles Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town tour, which included a stop in Milwaukee, in exquisite detail. Kirsch lets the fans and the incredible photos tell the story. If you're not a Bruce fan, you probably won't get it. But, it may help you understand why the man's fan base is so fervent and fans treat shows like religious events.
Drew Olson
ONMilwaukee.com
The Kindle will give new life to books like The Light in Darkness, my friend Lawrence Kirsch's new fan-sourced, photo-filled tribute to Bruce Springsteen, the follow-up to his best-selling--and now unavailable--For You. For as good as the Kindle may be with words, it can't capture the thrill of looking at crisp, sharp, emotional photos of a band, a landmark, a child, a puppy or a historical event.
As publishers flock to the electronica of the Kindle, passionate
entrepreneurs like Lawrence will find--and fill--a tangible, tactile gap in
the marketplace.
Andy Nulman
powrightbetweentheeyes.typepad.com
Kitap Kanada'da yayimlandi. 2007'de dünyanin her yerindeki Bruce Springsteen dinleyicilerinden topladigi 30 yila yayilan hikaye, ani ve fotograflar arasindan yaptigi bir seçkiyi 'For You' adiyla yayimlayan Lawrence Kirsch, geçen yil sonu benzer format ve konseptte ikinci bir Bruce Springsteen kitabi çikardi. Ama bu ikinci kitap Springsteen'in kariyerinde özgül bir yere odaklaniyor. Müzisyenin 1978 yilinda yaptigi 'Darkness on the Edge of Town – Sehrin Kenarindaki Karanlik' albümüne.
Bu albüm Springsteen'in bir sarki yazari, bir yazar olarak içindeki karanliga baktigi, 'Amerikan Rüyasi'na karsi gelisen, gelistirdigi karamsarligini sakinmaksizin ortaya koydugu bir isidir ki, bir yaniyla da eglence endüstrisine yaslanan rock sahnesinde daha birkaç yil önce zirveye çikmis genç bir söhret için hayli riskli bir tesebbüs olarak kabul edilir, edilmisti o senelerde.
Bugün hala içinden birçok sarkinin konserlerde hep bir agizdan söylendigi bu albüm ve onun hemen ardindan baslayan turneye iliskin yazilar, yine Springsteen dinleyicilerinin gönderdigi hikayeler, izlenimler yer aliyor iste 'The Light in Darkness – Karanliktaki Isik' adini tasiyan bu ikinci kitapta da.
Ahmet Tulgar
Istanbul, Turkey
I found the website quite by accident. I had been searching for some food related article and came upon the name "Pantsios", referencing Catherine (a chef in San Francisco) and Anastasia (a photographer in Cleveland). This was a very familiar name from my childhood growing up in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago in the '50s and '60s. There were images associated with Anastasia... and in these images Bruce appeared.
That brought me to your site and the book. Springsteen has been a cherished companion since 1974 when a bunch of young folks from the suburbs of Chicago spent most of a summer in a rented house down the Jersey shore. We were wild and innocent, and that is what we listened to as well. The nights spent in that house listening to The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle and Greetings from Asbury Park hold some of the best memories from my youth. Listening with me was someone who I would eventually marry, after taking different paths and going through (and coming out of) a dark and painful time (you know -- the light after the Darkness time). We were 23 and 21 then, and for all these years of our lives, Springsteen has provided the music. And if you haven't noticed, we are all getting old now together!
That was my serendipitous path to your book and the reason that I need it. I wish I had known about your previous book, as I would have needed that too!
Laurie Meyer
Homewood, IL
Merci mille fois pour ce merveilleux livre. Mon anglais n'est pas fameux mais j'ai pu traduire la plupart des anecdotes!
Vous êtes vraiment arrivé à retranscrire l'ambiance autour de cette tournée, vraiment à part.
Un gros merci de France.
François D.
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