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Post by cheryl on Aug 16, 2007 11:48:29 GMT -5
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Post by admin on Aug 17, 2007 6:50:51 GMT -5
From what I understand, Bruce will have more references to his home town on the new album.
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Post by misterpr1981 on Aug 17, 2007 7:36:11 GMT -5
Correct. This is a song that Bruce wrote in 2006 and will be on the new album. Kind of reminds me of "My Hometown: Part Two."
GONNA BE A LONG WALK HOME
Last night I stood at your doorstep
Trying to figure out what went wrong
You slipped something into my palm and you were gone
It was the same deep green of summer
'Bove me the same night sky was glowin'
In the distance I could see the town where I was born
It's gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
I walked past Sal's grocery
Joe's barber shop on South Street
I looked into the faces*
They were all rank strangers to me*
Veteran's Hall up upon the hill
Stood dark and alone
Frankie's diner was shuttered and boarded
With a sign that just said "gone"
It's gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
My Pa said "Son, we're lucky,
This town is a beautiful place to be born.
It just wraps its arms around you,
Nobody crowds you, nobody goes it alone"
"You see that flag down at the courthouse?
It means certain things are set in stone.
Who we are, what we'll do and what we won't"
Well it's gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
Here everybody has a neighbor
Everybody has a friend
Everybody has a reason to begin again
[harmonica bridge]
Now the war is rising 'round the corner
There's a fire burning out of control
There's a hurricane on Main Street
And I've got murder in my soul
Yeah well when the party's over
And the cheering is all gone
Will you know me, will I know you
Will I now you
'Cause it's gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
It's gonna be a long walk home
Hey now darling, it's gonna be a long walk home**
Yeah it's gonna be a long walk home
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Post by Marc LeVine on Aug 17, 2007 8:35:11 GMT -5
...proving to all the world that Freehold Borough is STILL Bruce Springsteen's HOMETOWN!
Marc
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Post by LS on Aug 17, 2007 9:21:38 GMT -5
It would interesting if people analyzed the lyrics and put down their thoughts of that song (or other Freehold songs).
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Post by misterpr1981 on Aug 17, 2007 10:06:36 GMT -5
Well, considering that some of those landmarks are not there anymore, I want to venture that it's taking place in the past.
It sounds as if he's talking about something major happening in Freehold which caused it to all shut down, and as he's walking by everything that's closed and dark, it's making his walk a lot longer. He could also mean "long walk home" to metaphorically mean that it's a long walk forward for the town to go.
But to me, I don't think it's taking place currently. I think it's taking place around the same time as "My Hometown," or directly following it. Sort of like a sequel. Thoughts?
Steve
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Post by fiberisgoodforyou on Aug 17, 2007 14:36:56 GMT -5
WOW, that is great! ;D Any Metal Mariachi tracks, or is that a rumor too?  |
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Post by admin on Aug 20, 2007 7:44:57 GMT -5
What we need is to have a new event in town. Along with SPOOKTACULAR, we should have BRUCETACULAR.
A week long celebration of our most famous and very American icon. Bring in cover bands, have the restaurants blast "Born in the USA," put up a Bruce statue, and any other related event that could promote some good tourism into our town.
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Post by cheryl on Aug 20, 2007 9:02:14 GMT -5
What we need is to have a new event in town. Along with SPOOKTACULAR, we should have BRUCETACULAR. A week long celebration of our most famous and very American icon. Bring in cover bands, have the restaurants blast "Born in the USA," put up a Bruce statue, and any other related event that could promote some good tourism into our town. Springsteen's on a Pedestal. Not His Statue. by Steve Strunsky New York Times May 16, 1999 In Bruce Springsteen's hometown, there is a fire truck with the words ''Born to Run'' painted on the side. The Boss donated the truck to the cash-strapped Borough of Freehold in 1991, in the same spirit that he played a concert two years ago to benefit the parish center affiliated with the St. Rose of Lima School there, his alma mater. ''He doesn't forget where he came from,'' said Stephen Pullen, 20, a resident and a member of the Freehold Volunteer Fire Department. Yet it's doubtful there will be any Bruce Springsteen statue erected in Freehold any time soon.
The borough clerk, Dolores Gibson, said officials rejected a recent proposal by William Dean Kilpatrick, a sculptor from Highlands, to create a 10-foot-tall statue of Mr. Springsteen because of its $200,000 estimated cost. Ms. Gibson said a local artist, Anke Lenzing, wrote a letter on Mr. Kilpatrick's behalf to Mayor Michael Wilson, a friend of Mr. Springsteen's since childhood. The Mayor passed it on to the Citizens Advisory Council, which recommended to the Borough Council at an April 28 meeting that the proposal be turned down. There was no vote.
''I think we're proud that we can say he came from Freehold Borough, sure,'' said Ms. Gibson. But, she added, ''Freehold is a very small community, a very old community, and we need so many other things.''
Ms. Gibson said the borough of 11,000 has made a dramatic turnaround over the past decade from the days of the ''whitewashed windows and vacant stores'' that Springsteen sang about in ''My Hometown.'' But she said higher spending priorities include renovating two playgrounds and repairing roads and water and sewer lines.
Freehold officials do want to honor the singer, who was raised on Institute Street (and now lives in Rumson) in some way. The Mayor said proposals to rename a street for Mr. Springsteen was impractical because 'the signs would last about an hour'' before fans made off with them.
Aside from his philanthropy, Mr. Springsteen's affection for Freehold is evident in his ballad ''My Hometown.'' So it's no surprise that for years residents have suggested memorializing the man who, despite international stardom, remains visible in Freehold and other parts of Monmouth County.At Jack's Musical Instruments in nearby Red Bank, where Mr. Springsteen and his mates from the E Street Band have been known to drop in, Andy Citkowicz, 21, a clerk, said ''Everybody around here loves him.'' But Mr. Citkowicz also said he didn't think a statue was the kind of thing the Boss himself would care for. ''He doesn't seem big-headed like that. At least in our eyes,'' he said. ''That's not the way he is around here. Just real down to earth.'' |
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Post by cheryl on Aug 20, 2007 9:04:06 GMT -5
'Whitewashed windows and vacant stores' and no Springsteen statue www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/News/9905/12/showbuzz/FREEHOLD, New Jersey (CNN) -- Bruce Springsteen may be good enough to merit a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but he's looking too pricey for his New Jersey hometown. Officials in Freehold have killed plans to erect a statue of The Boss because of its rising cost. The town estimated the statue to cost about $150,000, but the price is closer to $200,000, according to Councilwoman Sharon Shutzer.
Mayor Michael Wilson, who proposed the tribute, says the public isn't all that wild about the idea of a statue honoring the town's most famous son.
Springsteen, who called Freehold a town of "whitewashed windows and vacant stores" in his single "My Hometown," is touring with the E Street Band. No comment from his publicist or manager. |
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Post by cheryl on Aug 20, 2007 9:08:30 GMT -5
BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : OCTOBER 2, 2000 ISSUE www.businessweek.com/2000/00_40/b3701170.htm INTERNATIONAL -- LETTER FROM FREEHOLD, N.J. The Boss Grew Up Here--but Mum's the Word (int'l edition) Like a lot of my contemporaries pushing 45 and wondering where we'll find our hairlines at 50, I'm an unabashed fan of rocker Bruce Springsteen. Need I tick off my Boss credentials? Have the albums. Hum the lyrics. Bought the T-shirts. And on the just-concluded Springsteen tour, my wife and I pulled a rare (for us) bi-coastal, plunking down big bucks for shows in Washington, D.C., and Oakland, Calif., in a three-week stretch. And there's something else. Springsteen and I share the same hometown: Freehold, N.J., a stout working-class hamlet of 10,000 smack in the center of the state. Like the rocker I've never met, I was born in Freehold and spent my childhood there. I played Little League in Freehold, like the Boss, was a rabble-rouser in Mr. Cook's 7th-grade English class, and count among my fondest recollections the crunchy tuna sandwiches served at the Sweet Shop on South Street. I live in Baltimore now. But when I return home, as I do two or three times a year to visit my parents (and wax nostalgic for the sandwiches, which are no longer served), I'm inevitably taken aback by what, on first impression, seems a terrific slight against the burg's most celebrated son. Nowhere in this rebounding small town of outdoor cafes and restored Victorian houses is there public acknowledgment of the Boss's Freehold roots. Nothing as grandiose as a Springsteen Museum looming over the center of town nor even as simple as a street sign in the shape of an acoustic guitar. Isn't such recognition the birthright of the trend-setting rocker? Elvis Presley, dead for nearly 25 years, remains among the top tourist draws in Tennessee--or, more accurately, Graceland, the Big El's garish Memphis estate. Even an outpost like Hibbing, Minn., throws a few bouquets at its hometown rock icon, Bob Dylan. The local Dylan exhibit is housed in the basement of the local library--and amounts to a few vintage Dylan posters--but at least there's some place for pilgrims to pay their respects. Freehold, on the other hand, stands resolutely, almost defiantly, silent. Which, as it turns out, is pretty much the way Springsteen wants it. ''We've been pretty sensitive to overblowing what you'd call the nostalgia of him growing up here,'' says Michael Wilson, Freehold's mayor, who calls Springsteen about issues of concern to the town a few times a year. The low-key approach has worked for Freeholders and for Springsteen in ways few outsiders know or might suspect. Springsteen, who turned 51 this month, does come home again. And when he does, he gets to walk the downtown streets like the Everyman he yearns to be but no longer is. Among recent sightings: Springsteen gabbing with friends at Federici's, home of the town's premier pizza; Springsteen hunkered down at the town library poring over a magazine; Springsteen, hat pulled down low, on a family outing at Kruise Nite, a monthly parade of vintage cars through the business district. NO GROUPIES. These sketchy reports are hard to come by, even for a busybody native like me. My questions about Springsteen--who the media-shy crooner hangs with--and where he's likely to pop up next--were met with downward, discouraging glances by most townsfolk. The people who know the most seem to protect his privacy most zealously. When Springsteen's father, Douglas, died in 1998, the funeral was over before many in town even had learned of the death. ''There were people who knew, obviously. But if word got out, it would've breached that trust,'' says journalist Kevin Coyne, Freehold's town historian, who's working on a book about its World War II veterans. The rewards for such discretion are substantial. By treating Springsteen like he's no big deal, Freehold has been able to keep its local-boy-made-great in its midst. He and his wife, Patti, and their three children live a 15-minute drive from the town, in a mansion set back from the road to shield it from groupies and gawkers. His mother, Adele, still lives in the area, as do two aunts. ''As opposed to being a statue, he's a living presence,'' says Coyne. No one, of course, could have predicted 30 years ago that Freehold would ignore Springsteen so studiously. No one who knew the scrawny kid with the faraway look in his eye saw him as the town's ticket to fame. He grew up in a middle-class family in which both parents worked to provide for their children--Bruce and his sister, Pam. Springsteen's late father shifted among jobs--taxi driver, rug mill worker, guard at the county jail. His mother had the steadier job, as a secretary at a local real-estate title office. The younger Springsteen was a quiet, inward-looking child who by his own reckoning never fit in. By the time he arrived at Freehold High School, he was wearing his hair long and spending his time--too much time, his father would say--learning to play the guitar. He formed a teen band called the Castiles that played gigs at the local YMCA canteen and he allowed himself to dream of audiences and dance halls beyond the small town. After high school and a brief try at community college, he leaped into the local club scene, making an impression in noisy rooms at the Jersey Shore. I remember the excitement when his first album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., arrived in stores in 1973, and the anticipation when Carl Bernzweig, my grade-school buddy, invited me over to sample a few songs. To our 16-year-old ears, the music was exciting, even bizarre. By 1975, Springsteen had released three albums, the last of which, Born to Run, had sent his career arcing toward stardom. With its pulsing rhythms and personal lyrics, Born to Run created ripples that extended far beyond the traditional boundaries of rock and roll. In a heady week for Freehold in October, 1975, Time and Newsweek both featured Springsteen on their covers, one pronouncing him ''the future of rock and roll.'' In the years afterward, Springsteen has proven a rock star with staying power. A quarter-century later, his arena concerts still sell out in minutes. His fans, older, grayer, are no less devoted. HARD TIMES. Even when he has lived somewhere else, Springsteen's songs have borrowed liberally from his boyhood in Freehold. There are the occasional Springsteen lyrics that invoke a familiar name or town landmark. When Glory Days came out in the mid-1980s, for example, it set off a local guessing game about the high-school baseball player Springsteen had in mind when he wrote: ''He could throw that speed ball by you; make you look like a fool.'' Other Springsteen songs leave less to interpretation. My Hometown lays bare the hard times that gripped Freehold for much of Springsteen's childhood: racial tensions that boiled over in an altercation between white and black youths, the closing of the A&M Karagheusian rug mill that cost the community 1,500 jobs, and the flight of downtown merchants to suburban shopping malls. ''Now Main Street's white-washed windows and vacant stores; Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more,'' sings Bruce. More recently, Springsteen set to music some of his more prickly emotions. The Freehold of his youth could be an inhospitable place to those living outside its middle-class mainstream, as he explains in his ode Freehold. ''If you were different, black or brown, it was a bit of a redneck town,'' he recalls in the song, only half kidding. LEND A HAND. Those rough patches, though, have been largely forgotten or forgiven. Wilson, the town's mayor since 1985, has had a lot to do with mending relations. He's the perfect go-between--a hip public servant with a rock band in his own background. In the late 1960s, Wilson was guitarist in a local group that couldn't quite match the Springsteen sound. ''He became a rock star, I became the mayor. Probably best for all of us it worked out that way,'' says Wilson with a chuckle. Over time, Springsteen has become something of a patron saint to the town, quietly extending a hand when there is trouble that a famous face or a large contribution might fix. When the call goes out to the Boss, usually there is also some social agenda as well. That was the case in 1985, when 3M announced plans to downsize its Freehold plant and Springsteen lent his name to a newspaper ad protesting the decision. In 1996, Springsteen came to the aid of his alma mater; he played a benefit concert in the 1,300-seat gym of St. Rose of Lima, his old Catholic School. Concert tickets, at $30 a pop, were available only to residents of Freehold, and the proceeds went to a new parish center being built to serve the town's growing Hispanic population. In return for such good deeds, Springsteen asks that the town fathers resist efforts to turn the eccentric little town into Springsteen-ville. What a deal. ''All the people in power respect the truce,'' says Coyne. A few years back, the town shunned a sculptor's proposal to erect a Boss statue in front of Freehold Boro Hall. ''He was personally grateful that didn't take place,'' says Wilson. In the same vein, a move to rename South Street, one of the town's main thoroughfares, ''Bruce Springsteen Boulevard'' also fell flat. ''The people from Freehold don't have to name streets or parks. They know what it's all about,'' notes Mike DiBenedetto, a town councilman and third-generation Freehold barber.If you're in Freehold looking for a Springsteen landmark, there is one place you might try, though. Over at the firehouse a gleaming yellow truck is parked and ready for its next call. The town bought its handsome firefighting wheels with a $100,000 gift from the Boss. You'll know the truck when you see it. Stenciled into the paint: ''Born to Run.'' By MARK HYMAN Hyman, contributing editor for Sports Business, was a first baseman on the Freehold Little League Cardinals in 1968. EDITED BY PATRICK SMITH |
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Post by cheryl on Aug 20, 2007 9:13:00 GMT -5
Performers Use Their Star Power to Help Their Hometown Causes By Brennen Jensen and Ian Wilhelm The Chronicle of Philanthropy 8/2/2006 philanthropy.com/premium/articles/v18/i20/20001401.htm (by way of rickymartinmusic.com/portal/news/news.asp?item=104853)Visibility is often the most significant gift celebrated musicians can give to a local cause. The pop singer Ricky Martin says using his fame to raise awareness about a social problem is perhaps more important than raising or donating funds. The Grammy winner uses the Ricky Martin Foundation, which he created in 2000 in his birthplace of Puerto Rico, to teach people about child exploitation on the island and around the world. "We commit our voice to provoke changes in human behavior toward the most vulnerable population," the singer wrote in an e-mail message to The Chronicle. Mr. Martin says his fame has helped him recruit businesses to the effort. For example, the charity is working with Microsoft to create and distribute educational videos featuring Mr. Martin discussing the dangers presented by sexual predators and child pornography. The increased visibility brought by a celebrity musician sometimes translates into new donors to a charitable cause. The singer Sheryl Crow mentions on her Web site that she supports the Delta Children's Home, a nonprofit foster-care facility in her native Kennett, Mo., on whose board her mother once served. The performer has helped the charity raise more than $80,000 by donating her clothing, instruments, and other personal items to an annual auction benefiting the home. Since 2001, some of the singer's fans have also gotten in on the act. They have used the Internet to promote what they call the annual "Birthday Drive" among fans to raise money for the home as a way to mark Ms. Crow's birthday. The effort has raised more than $60,000 for the charity from people all across the country who probably would never have heard of it otherwise. "We'd really be having a hard time making our budget without her," says Jill Mobley, a Delta Children's Home board member. (Ms. Crow did not respond to requests for an interview with The Chronicle.) The singer also gave more than $400,000 to the city of Kennett to construct a swimming pool, which opened last year as the Sheryl Crow Aquatic Center. City officials were able to use her donation to persuade the state to grant the project an additional $400,000. "The city didn't even have the money to tear the old, closed pool down until Sheryl got involved," says Jan McElwrath, director of the Kennett Chamber of Commerce. A Quiet Donor But unlike Ms. Crow - with a pool bearing her name, a mini-museum dedicated to her in the Kennett library, and her photo on the town Web site - the veteran rocker Bruce Springsteen does not have his name and image displayed in his hometown of Freehold, N.J. And both the town and the singer seem to like it that way.
"It's a case of don't ask, don't tell," says Kevin Coyne, a former Freehold city councilman and unofficial town historian, of the community's approach to its most famous son. "He lives in the next town over and comes back often to visit family in town and we're very protective of him."
The city has shot down proposals to erect a statue of Mr. Springsteen downtown and name a street after him. Essentially, community leaders don't want to do anything that might draw a lot of the singer's fans to town, which could make it uncomfortable for him to visit.
Mr. Coyne says by an informal "mutual understanding," Mr. Springsteen, in turn, helps the community out now and again. A new firetruck Mr. Springsteen bought for the town's volunteer fire company - with the name of his signature hit, "Born to Run," stenciled on its side - is the most obvious example of the artist's giving.The singer, who earned $55-million last year, according to Forbes magazine, offers more-visible assistance to Asbury Park, a decaying coastal town about 20 miles east of Freehold whose culture he has long celebrated in his lyrics. He holds a series of benefit concerts almost annually in Asbury Park that have raised hundreds of thousands to help the town build a playground, buy uniforms for the high-school band, and help convert a shuttered YMCA building into a community center. In 1988, Mr. Springsteen also created the Thrill Hill Foundation, in Los Angeles - which, in addition to supporting national causes, makes grants to New Jersey food banks and social-services programs. The full extent of the singer's philanthropy, however, is hard to determine. "Usually Bruce Springsteen and his management do not publicize their charity," Mr. Springsteen's publicist said in an e-mail message to The Chronicle. Fame and Fund Raising Not every musical philanthropist is so tight-lipped about his or her local giving - and nonprofit groups say that sharing the spotlight with a famous donor can be problematic. For instance, the Music Resource Center, which provides musical and recording instruction to teenagers in Charlottesville, Va., has a close relationship with the Dave Matthews Band, whose members live in or near the town. The musicians have donated more than $450,000 to the center and occasionally stop by to visit with its young students. The connection has been featured in Entertainment Weekly and on television's Today show. Sibley W. Johns, the center's executive director, says the musical group's support has been invaluable - but that it causes some donors to ignore the center because of its famous benefactors. "I meet people out in the community who are like, 'Oh yeah, that's the Dave Matthews Band organization. They totally take care of you guys. That's so cool,'" she says, "And I'm like, 'Wait a minute. Let me just rectify this and paint a picture of what really happens. We're just like any other Joe organization in the community and we have to raise our annual budget every year.'" The center's fund-raising conundrum isn't the only challenge that charities can face when they form an alliance with famous performers. Lisa M. Dietlin, a Chicago consultant to wealthy donors and nonprofit groups who has studied musicians and their giving, advises nonprofit groups to vet artists carefully before asking them for assistance. "If you're Mothers Against Drunk Driving and one of the people on your list is somebody sponsored by one of the beer companies or wine companies, that might be a mixed message," she says. |
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Post by admin on Aug 20, 2007 9:32:29 GMT -5
Performers Use Their Star Power to Help Their Hometown Causes By Brennen Jensen and Ian Wilhelm The Chronicle of Philanthropy 8/2/2006 philanthropy.com/premium/articles/v18/i20/20001401.htm (by way of rickymartinmusic.com/portal/news/news.asp?item=104853)Visibility is often the most significant gift celebrated musicians can give to a local cause. The pop singer Ricky Martin says using his fame to raise awareness about a social problem is perhaps more important than raising or donating funds. The Grammy winner uses the Ricky Martin Foundation, which he created in 2000 in his birthplace of Puerto Rico, to teach people about child exploitation on the island and around the world. "We commit our voice to provoke changes in human behavior toward the most vulnerable population," the singer wrote in an e-mail message to The Chronicle. Mr. Martin says his fame has helped him recruit businesses to the effort. For example, the charity is working with Microsoft to create and distribute educational videos featuring Mr. Martin discussing the dangers presented by sexual predators and child pornography. The increased visibility brought by a celebrity musician sometimes translates into new donors to a charitable cause. The singer Sheryl Crow mentions on her Web site that she supports the Delta Children's Home, a nonprofit foster-care facility in her native Kennett, Mo., on whose board her mother once served. The performer has helped the charity raise more than $80,000 by donating her clothing, instruments, and other personal items to an annual auction benefiting the home. Since 2001, some of the singer's fans have also gotten in on the act. They have used the Internet to promote what they call the annual "Birthday Drive" among fans to raise money for the home as a way to mark Ms. Crow's birthday. The effort has raised more than $60,000 for the charity from people all across the country who probably would never have heard of it otherwise. "We'd really be having a hard time making our budget without her," says Jill Mobley, a Delta Children's Home board member. (Ms. Crow did not respond to requests for an interview with The Chronicle.) The singer also gave more than $400,000 to the city of Kennett to construct a swimming pool, which opened last year as the Sheryl Crow Aquatic Center. City officials were able to use her donation to persuade the state to grant the project an additional $400,000. "The city didn't even have the money to tear the old, closed pool down until Sheryl got involved," says Jan McElwrath, director of the Kennett Chamber of Commerce. A Quiet Donor But unlike Ms. Crow - with a pool bearing her name, a mini-museum dedicated to her in the Kennett library, and her photo on the town Web site - the veteran rocker Bruce Springsteen does not have his name and image displayed in his hometown of Freehold, N.J. And both the town and the singer seem to like it that way.
"It's a case of don't ask, don't tell," says Kevin Coyne, a former Freehold city councilman and unofficial town historian, of the community's approach to its most famous son. "He lives in the next town over and comes back often to visit family in town and we're very protective of him."
The city has shot down proposals to erect a statue of Mr. Springsteen downtown and name a street after him. Essentially, community leaders don't want to do anything that might draw a lot of the singer's fans to town, which could make it uncomfortable for him to visit.
Mr. Coyne says by an informal "mutual understanding," Mr. Springsteen, in turn, helps the community out now and again. A new firetruck Mr. Springsteen bought for the town's volunteer fire company - with the name of his signature hit, "Born to Run," stenciled on its side - is the most obvious example of the artist's giving.The singer, who earned $55-million last year, according to Forbes magazine, offers more-visible assistance to Asbury Park, a decaying coastal town about 20 miles east of Freehold whose culture he has long celebrated in his lyrics. He holds a series of benefit concerts almost annually in Asbury Park that have raised hundreds of thousands to help the town build a playground, buy uniforms for the high-school band, and help convert a shuttered YMCA building into a community center. In 1988, Mr. Springsteen also created the Thrill Hill Foundation, in Los Angeles - which, in addition to supporting national causes, makes grants to New Jersey food banks and social-services programs. The full extent of the singer's philanthropy, however, is hard to determine. "Usually Bruce Springsteen and his management do not publicize their charity," Mr. Springsteen's publicist said in an e-mail message to The Chronicle. Fame and Fund Raising Not every musical philanthropist is so tight-lipped about his or her local giving - and nonprofit groups say that sharing the spotlight with a famous donor can be problematic. For instance, the Music Resource Center, which provides musical and recording instruction to teenagers in Charlottesville, Va., has a close relationship with the Dave Matthews Band, whose members live in or near the town. The musicians have donated more than $450,000 to the center and occasionally stop by to visit with its young students. The connection has been featured in Entertainment Weekly and on television's Today show. Sibley W. Johns, the center's executive director, says the musical group's support has been invaluable - but that it causes some donors to ignore the center because of its famous benefactors. "I meet people out in the community who are like, 'Oh yeah, that's the Dave Matthews Band organization. They totally take care of you guys. That's so cool,'" she says, "And I'm like, 'Wait a minute. Let me just rectify this and paint a picture of what really happens. We're just like any other Joe organization in the community and we have to raise our annual budget every year.'" The center's fund-raising conundrum isn't the only challenge that charities can face when they form an alliance with famous performers. Lisa M. Dietlin, a Chicago consultant to wealthy donors and nonprofit groups who has studied musicians and their giving, advises nonprofit groups to vet artists carefully before asking them for assistance. "If you're Mothers Against Drunk Driving and one of the people on your list is somebody sponsored by one of the beer companies or wine companies, that might be a mixed message," she says. Cheryl, All of your above posts are great reading. I give up, No statue. it would just be a pigeon roost anyway. But, the above post about philanthropy is inspiring. How about a week long Brucetacular billed as an arts and music festival. The goal would be to raise money and awareness for arts and music for the area children. This could be a much needed boost after having the program cuts in the schools. |
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Post by cheryl on Aug 20, 2007 12:18:35 GMT -5
Cheryl, All of your above posts are great reading. I give up, No statue. it would just be a pigeon roost anyway. But, the above post about philanthropy is inspiring. As with a lot of what happens (or doesn't) in Freehold Borough, the "Bruce thing" on the surface seems simple enough, but the institutional memory reveals otherwise. |
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Post by LS on Aug 20, 2007 13:00:47 GMT -5
Cheryl, All of your above posts are great reading. I give up, No statue. it would just be a pigeon roost anyway. But, the above post about philanthropy is inspiring. How about a week long Brucetacular billed as an arts and music festival. The goal would be to raise money and awareness for arts and music for the area children. This could be a much needed boost after having the program cuts in the schools. Brian, I think that is a pretty cool idea. While Bruce wouldn't have to make an appearance, I should think he should at least give it his okay. Then it could be as you said, cover bands of Bruce or bands associated with that sound/era; sales of memorabilia, kiddie rides, etc. Hold it at the schools and have it benefit the music, arts and sports programs; or something to that effect. It is certainly more distinct and more Freehold than the usual San Gennaro festival or antique fairs. Think about it, what is so Freehold about these other festivals, there is one antique store left and no parading of San Gennaro statues, relics, etc. They are merely excuses to have a festival. A well-publicized Bruce festival would bring in a lot more people than the other tired festivals. |
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Post by admin on Aug 20, 2007 13:33:57 GMT -5
LS,
You are completely on board with me as to where I was going with this. Yes, we would have to get permission from the Boss. But, now is a great time to look into something like this. Bruce would only have to lend us his name. The benefits could go to so much recreation, sports, music and arts programs for our local kids.
You are right, LS, it is VERY relevant to our town. The other events are cool, but a Bruce fest would be better. It would be a great way to put the town on the map.
Maybe plan it out for the the same time we have the grand opening of the American Hotel?
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Post by Marc LeVine on Aug 20, 2007 14:00:49 GMT -5
Suggest it. John Newman suggested to the FCP that we have a new farmer's market and we do. Years ago, former Councilman Fred Sanders came up with the Spooktacular festivities. Former Councilman, Carl Steinberg has proposed a WWII memorial that will probably be built with his funds. Bring it up at the next Council meeting.
I think this is a great idea that might seriously be considered by Springsteen and the town, so long as it is tastefully done and benefits something worthwhile.
The Boss is coming out with a new album in October featuring his E-Street Band with lyric references to Freehold Borough. This is a great time, if for nothing more than, to talk about such an event for our community.
Marc
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