Robert Santelli, Greetings From E STREET: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (Chronicle Books, 2006)
Another day, another book about Bruce Springsteen. This one though, is different. It is packaged in what appears to be a gig box, one of those big black reinforced boxes in which bands store their instruments and amps while on the road. Inside is one of those non-traditional books that have become the rage. It has envelopes with reproductions of memorabilia, like posters, and business cards, handwritten song sheets, and the like. It's almost as though Bruce Springsteen had a shoe box under his bed filled with paraphernalia from his whole career . . . and now everyone can peruse it at their leisure.
Even handling the solid box, one is struck by a sense of weight and quality. The corners are square and sharp, the images are reproduced with care and precision, the torn bits of tape really look like torn bits of tape! And inside . . . it's even better.
Robert Santelli, though perhaps not as well known as Dave Marsh (who wrote Bruce Springsteen On Tour, reviewed last issue,) is a frequent contributor to Rolling Stone and Backstreets and has published several other books (including last year's similarly formatted Bob Dylan Scrapbook) He is a New Jersey native, and almost as passionate about Springsteen as Marsh is.
Sliding the book out of the box, the first thing one sees is a set of contact prints of the E Street Band and their Boss. They show the band perched on stools at a diner bar, or watching Bruce play pinball. On the back is Bruce inside a phone box. The photos are outtakes, previously unseen; they could be a rock band, but they could also easily be a street gang. Maybe they are both.
Between the covers: slick paper, high quality reproduction, and contemporary book design, all collaborate to give the reader an intimate look at this legendary rocker. Springsteen is quoted, "I want you to put your hands together, your arms together, your asses together for the houserocking, pants dropping, brain-shocking, earthquaking, booty-shaking, viagra-taking, love-making, sexifting, electrifying, women shrieking, grown men crying, legendary E Street Band!" And if The Boss feels this way about them, how are we mere mortals to respond?
Santelli's text tells the story of New Jersey boys made good. Playing little bars and clubs, refining their art, from Asbury Park to NYC. Hard work, sweat, the smell of those clubs, stale beer and cigarette smoke. That'll be the next thing for these books, scratch'n'sniff pads! But we're looking at the text! Santelli is no poet, but he tells the story clearly and with some interesting personal anecdotes. He has all the details, and some secrets, gleaned from interviews with Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, and others.
The first facsimile is a Steel Mill business card listing Springsteen's name and phone number. Call for gigs! The beauty of the book is, that just as if it were that shoebox from under Bruce's bed, you can take these souvenirs out, and handle them. Imagine that they are the real thing, that you were there. There's a reproduction of a booklet, created by Steel Mill fans, which features pictures of Bruce, Steve Van Zandt, Lopez, Federici and some intriguing text, "STEELMILL does their own stuff and mix things up so informally and well that an observer just has to get involved." Hmmm.
There's a word search for song titles from the Bruce Springsteen Band! This before they had a record deal! And free passes to see them "any Friday in November 1971!" There are newspaper clippings hailing performances at Rutgers or the Clearwater Swim Club. And the text is well illustrated with contemporary photos. I like the napkin and backstage pass from The Stone Pony (except, the napkin is hard to get stuffed back into its envelope!
t's great to see reproductions of the TIME and NEWSWEEK covers, both dated October 27, 1975. Imagine a magazine that only cost 75 cents! Wasn't that a time! The facsimile of issue #3 of the fanzine Thunder Road is eight pages with a cover price of $1.25, neat! All this and we're only up to page 46. These books, these 'scrapbooks' are designed to be played with. In my collection so far I have a John Lennon volume, the Dylan, a BB King, and now the Springsteen. I've passed on the Celine Dion, and missed the Bob Marley. There are a few others, and there will be more.
Greetings From E STREET by Robert Santelli is a superb example of how to do this format with style and fun. Incorporate well written, informative text, employ a creative designer, and somehow (this is very important) get access to a nifty batch of obscure memorabilia, put it all together and you can't go wrong. Highly recommended!
