With all credit to the author, my friend Jim,

I bring you this story about our weekend:

April 12th – April 15^th , 2008

Texas

The Texas 2 Step

Roadtrip Brings A Doubleshot Of Bruce

Landing at DFW Airport around 12:30 PM, Lisa’s convertible comes to pick Barbra and me up. As Lisa rolls up to the curb, the new Bruce CD is blasting out the open top. Here’s our Texas welcome!

From the initial Chicken Chilaquiles, to the final Shiner Bock beers was a very memorable trip. Interspersed wasThe Grassy Knoll, The Dallas Botanic Garden, the beautiful drive to Houston (you heard right!), and of course…B-r-r-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-c-e. Yeee-Haw! Major props to Lisa, you were the best Hostess and Planner. Thanks Lisa!

So the trip begins with a lunch stop at one of Lisa’s favorites. The Chicken Chilaquiles were AWESOME! And that special Bloody Mary was so dang citrus-y. On to Lisa’s house in a very cool neighborhood called, are you ready?, Hollywood – Santa Monica. Then It’s the 6th Floor Museum in the actual School Book Depository. Time to chill back at Lisa’s with some chilled wine on her huge second story, covered balcony. With all the mature trees in her neighborhood it was like a big tree house. Is it dinner time already? On to a fantastic Oaxacan restaurant, Mi Cocina, with some Oh So Good chicken mole. 38 ingredients in that mole.

Sunday has a trip to the Dallas Botanic Garden. Several hours of really beautiful grounds. I was IMPRESSED! 1.2 million bulbs, many – and very large – azaleas, interesting bronze sculptures, long tree tunnels of Lagerstoemia, fountains, a very large (remember we are in Texas) lake. Very well done! Nap time after, then time for the Dallas show, Sunday night.

Monday has us road tripping Thelma and Louise style to Houston, a 3 hour drive. There were beautiful stretches of large green trees, some slightly rolling hills, and beautiful wildflowers along the freeway. Really quite nice, and nothing as I expected. Apparently Lady Bird Johnson made sure plenty of Texas sized money was put into freeway beautification.

Rolling into Houston brought warm weather, a different plant palette with some tropicals (Queen Palms? Crotons? Shell Ginger?), and a large bucket of spicy crawdads at The Ragin' Cajun. Hotel time. We pull up to the large Hilton Convention Hotel and check in. Very nice. A quick walk outside and we could almost touch the arena Bruce was playing in that night. Literally across a small access street. 3 minutes from hotel to arena on foot. Too Cool!

Another Bruce show Monday night, a follow up Shiner Bock at the hotel bar, and it was way past bedtime...again. Breakfast on Tuesday, then a flight back to Los Angeles.

A Texas Tornado of a trip.

The Shows:

Dallas, Sunday April 13

This was a good show. Not a great show, that will come in Houston. Solid. Not bad for Lisa's intro. Lisa was in observation mode, soaking it in, knowing another opportunity was coming.

The crowd was a little spotty. Some people were determined to just sit, many people seemed unfamiliar with the new CD, and to me it kinda seemed that the crowd was waiting for a repeat of a 1985 show from the peak of Bruce's popularity. They weren't rude, and they were rather loud, but I kinda got this feeling...well either the song choices were too new, or too old. Most weren't "just right" for them.

The show itself had several highlights:

Barbra got to complete hearing every song on the "Born To Run Album", a coveted milestone in Bruce land. After only 5 shows, are you kidding me? It took me 27 years!

Bruce again played "Meeting Across The River". I'm convinced that most of the crowd had no idea what this meant. No "gasp", no anticipation. That doesn't make it a bad performance by any means...I got to enjoy it on a different level from the "Oh My God!" moment in Anaheim. The setlist was actually quite good.

The finale brought out "Dancing In The Dark", and Bruce brought up 10, ten year old girls, that were near the stage. Cute.

After the show, at The Old Monk, I avoided asking Lisa “The Question.” She offered an answer anyway, “it rocked,” she said kinda flatly. I could tell from how she said it that the show seemed OK. I thought the same. There is a type of Bruce show where different aspects come together to create that Special Bruce Experience. The crowd. The venue. The performance. The song selection. The changes in song selection. It is actually palpable. “The Church Of Bruce” in LA was one. “The School Of Rock.” Anaheim #2, “The Mythic Show.” Dallas was not one of these. Doesn’t mean it was bad, but Lisa, without knowing it, kinda summed it up.

Houston, Monday April 14th

Part of Lisa’s genius was to road trip to Houston. This would give her an opportunity to scout out a first show, and then possibly really appreciate the next one.

The Houston Show starts with the hotel location. Wow, right next door. So at 5:30 we head to the downstairs bar that is already 2 people deep. Somehow we find a table. People kept filtering in, and before we know it the crowd is into the lobby and almost to the revolving door entrance. Lots of Bruce T shirts. At 7:00 we go back to our rooms, take a shower, and get dressed for the show. We walk into the arena at 7:35, how easy was that!

Now time to find our seats. I knew where they were, but Barbra and Lisa didn’t. Side of stage, but still in front. 15^th row. Yeah Baby! Both Lisa and Barbra said they were the best tickets they have ever had for any show. So far so good.

This concert was a blaster, and started like a fast firing revolver. Plenty of highlights, but there was this one….

On the CD “Magic” there is a song, “Terry’s Song.” It is not listed. It doesn’t show up on Bruce’s official website. It is an afterthought. This song is a eulogy to a best friend who passed away last year, just before the CD was released. When I was going through my recent health issues, when I heard this song I would start streaming tears uncontrollably. The song is extremely personal, and there is NO WAY it is EVER going to be performed. I even told Lisa and Barbra this during our drive down.

Well…two thirds of the way through the show, Bruce comes out of the shadows with a guitar and the harmonica around his neck. Strange. A chair and a microphone get set up for him. Strange. He then proceeds to tell us that his friend would have been 68 years old today, and this was for him. I almost started crying right there. Are you kidding me? He proceeds to play “Terry’s Song.” I’m not exaggerating when I tell you I’m tearing up as I type this.

Terry's song... http://youtube.com/watch?v=Avi4ucNc4FY

What I didn’t know until days later, was that Lisa was crying during this song. Whew, powerful stuff.

The show picks back up, and the main set ends with that mountaintop ender, “Thunder Road.” The flag is planted. An excellent encore set including Texas legend Joe Ely, and we are done. An excellent, excellent show. A tip of the Stetson to Houston.

After the show, Lisa again summed it up. “This show seemed a lot better, didn’t it? Bruce is like a mastermind pitcher in baseball. He knows just how to change songs, and just how to change the order of songs. He seems to always be calculating how to create the best show.” Only later would I learn that for Houston Bruce changed his set list at the last minute (setlist pulled from the stage and replaced), and then during the show changed again. There were 6 or 7 times he had to tell the band what to play next. This was seamless.

You might say that Lisa “gets it”. She has a pretty good right handed fist pump to boot.

Bartender, give me another Double Shot. Anytime!

Reported By

Jim