Jersey Boys
Some of these people are from New Jersey, but not all of them.
Patti Smith
Patti Smith, the punk poet laureate, wrote for a music magazine in the sixties. She was fired for interviewing Eric Clapton and only asking him what his six favorite colors were. She lived with Robert Mapplethorpe. Her friend and mentor Allen Ginsberg thought she was a boy when they first met. Patti clashed with Horses producer John Cale. In 1977, she fell off a stage and broke her neck. She had a baby at twenty-one, and placed her up for adoption.
Jimmy Iovine convinced Bruce Springsteen to let Patti finish the lyrics for Because the Night, which became her first big hit. They performed it together in 1977, at her 31st birthday at CBGB’s. She co-wrote a play with Sam Shepard, and was almost the lead singer of Blue Oyster Cult. The Smiths song The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is a reworking of Smith's song Kimberly. The Waterboys' song A Girl Called Johnny is a tribute to Patti.
Patti wrote a song for the final episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. She married Fred Sonic Smith of MC5. Their son married Meg White. Patti supported Nader's Presidential run, and made an appearance in support of Julian Assange in 2016.
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen tried to break in to Graceland to meet Elvis one night at 3 am, but was stopped by security. He dodged the draft by going in to his physical hungover and acting crazy. He never had a number one song, but the Mannfred Mann’s Earth Band cover of Blinded By the Light hit the top of the Billboard charts.
In 1979, Joey Ramone asked Bruce Springsteen to write a song for The Ramones. He wrote Hungry Heart, but his manager convinced him to hold onto it. E Street and Tenth Avenue are both in Belmar, New Jersey.
The Chicken Man was Phil Testa, underboss of Frank Bruno’s Philadelphia mob family. Bruce intended to re-record the demos for Nebraska, but decided to release the sparse 4-track recordings as they were. Eight other songs from the sessions were cut in a studio with the E Street Band and made up the majority of his next album, Born in the USA. Courtney Cox got her big break when she was cast by Brian De Palma for the Dancing in the Dark video.
Bruce’s personal chef used to work for the king of Saudi Arabia. In 1988, Oliver North sent a note to try and meet Bruce after a concert. Bruce replied with, I don't like you. I don't like your boss. I don't like what you did. Thank you.
Link Wray and Robert Gordon
Bruce Springsteen originally wrote Fire for Elvis, but ended up giving it to Robert Gordon and Link Wray. The song was later covered by The Pointer Sisters.
Link Wray was Shawnee and Cherokee, and his family was often persecuted by the KKK during his youth. Link served in the Korean War, got tuberculosis, and lost a lung. His 1958 song Rumble, an instrumental, was banned in New York and Boston in fear that it would incite teenage gang violence. His early songs were recorded in a chicken coop.
Robert Gordon was the original singer for Tuff Darts, and after leaving them in the late seventies, paired up with Link Wray. He didn’t like the sixties, and joined the National Guard so he wouldn’t be sent to Vietnam. Chris Spedding filled in on guitar for Gordon's third album. Gordon appeared in Amos Poe’s Unmade Beds, along with Debbie Harry. He was also in Kathryn Bigelow's The Loveless, with Willem Dafoe.
Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison's voice has been praised by Elvis, Springsteen, Dylan, Waits, and Billy Joel. Barry Gibb said it was like the voice of God. Dwight Yoakam said it was like the cry of an angel falling backward through an open window. According to legend, his secret was a bottle of Coca Cola and a Hershey’s bar. He ad-libbed Mercy! on Oh, Pretty Woman because he couldn’t hit a high note. Roy dyed his hair black, and made a deal with Johnny Cash to grow little ponytails tied with ribbons, like the American Founding Fathers. He was fed cake on his twenty-eighth birthday by John Lennon and Ringo Starr.
Roy picked up a love for motorcycles from Elvis. In 1966, a truck pulled in front of him while he was on a ride with his wife, Claudette. She died in his arms. A few years later, their two oldest sons died in a house fire. Johnny Cash bought that house, tore it down and planted an orchard where it once stood. Orbison left his surviving three year old son in the permanent care of his parents. He later remarried and fathered two new sons.
Roy’s Traveling Wilbury persona, Lefty Wilbury, was a tribute his childhood hero, Lefty Frizell. On December 6th, 1988, Orbison spent the day flying model airplanes at his mother's house, and passed away later that night, at fifty-two. His death came right after a resurgence in his career, and months after the release of the first Traveling Wilburys album.
Steven Van Zandt
Little Steven Van Zandt wrote and produced Southside Johnny records and played in a number of bands with Bruce Springsteen before officially joining the E Street Band. He also arranged the horn intro to Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out before he was a member. He wears bandanas to cover scars on his head from going through a windshield. He founded Artists United Against Apartheid, and produced the album Sun City.
Little Richard presided over his wedding, Bruce was his best man, and Percy Sledge sang When A Man Loves A Woman. When Van Zandt inducted The Rascals into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, he caught the eye of David Chase, who offered him the part of Silvio Dante. His real life wife Maureen also played his onscreen wife in The Sopranos.
In recent years, Van Zandt has been trying to raise awareness of US military interference in Central American governments.
Glenn Danzig
Glenn Danzig credits James Hetfield and Cliff Burton with raising awareness of his post-Misfits career. Glenn didn’t know who Rick Rubin was before he signed with him- Rick told him to call Glen Friedman for a cred check.
Mother is about Tipper Gore. He has a teaching degree in Jeet Kune Do. It didn’t help much when he got knocked out by North Side Kings singer Danny Marianinho. Glenn’s old house in Los Feliz had a very famous pile of bricks that brought down property values. One day, he allegedly threw them all one by one into a dumpster, while yelling, Here I am motherfucker, just cleaning up my motherfucking bricks, bitch!
Glenn co-wrote Life Fades Away with Roy Orbison for the Less Than Zero soundtrack. He founded the comic book company Verotik in the mid-nineties. The signature Danzig skull was lifted from the cover of Marvel Comic’s The Saga of Crystar #8 by Michael Golden. Danzig was approached to play the part of Wolverine in the X-Men films, but he turned it down due to scheduling conflicts. He later started that if he had taken the part that eventually went to Hugh Jackman, he wouldn't have been as gay.
Furthermore
Here’s this week’s Spotify playlist.
Patti on Mapplethorpe and all of her not famous friends.
Glory Days is one of my favorite music videos for some dumb reason. Watch for some incredible looks from Little Steven, Clarence Clemons, and Max Weinberg. It also features both of his wives.
Here’s Bruce Stringbean and the S Street Band singing Born to Add.
Jesus Christ, the BDE oozing out of this man.
Here’s a live version of All for the Love of Rock and Roll by Tuff Darts when Robert Gordon was still singing.
Roy singing Oh, Pretty Woman from Black & White Night. If you haven’t seen this whole concert, I strongly urge you to watch it. It’s wonderful and absolutely packed with wild guests. On this song, Roy is backed by Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, James Burton, Glen D. Hardin, Tom Waits, kd lang, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, JD Souther, T Bone Burnett, Steven Soles, and Jennifer Warnes.
Glenn’s bricks.
