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I got a springsteen “spirit in the night” worth five grand, easy!

WATCHING SCENES WITH VINYL RECORDS or references to vinyl records in movies and television shows usually causes record collectors to laugh. The person responsible for placing the record in the scene almost always gets something about the record or the chronology wrong. Or makes an exaggerated claim about its value (“It’s worth five grand, easy”). [Continue reading]

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the #1 hit records on the pop charts 1962

THIS IS THE THIRD in a series of ten articles listing and addressing the #1 records of the year as they appeared on Cash Box magazine’s Top 100 chart from 1960 through 1969. It was originally published as “Big Girls Don’t Limbo Rock” on my publication Tell It Like It Was on Medium on February 16, 2019. [Continue reading]

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the #1 hit records on the pop charts 1961

THIS IS THE SECOND in a series of ten articles listing and addressing the #1 records of the year as they appeared on Cash Box magazine’s Top 100 chart from 1960 through 1969. It was originally published as “Take Good Care Of Runaround Sue” on my publication Tell It Like It Was on Medium on January 15, 2019. [Continue reading]

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meet the new boss (true tales from the men’s room)

IT WAS 1975, and I was out of my hippie wannabe stage. I was playing it straight; not out of choice, but necessity. (But that’s another story.) I was still as anti-authoritarian as all get-out—at least when it came to bosses who were really bullies with authority—taking crap from no one. [Continue reading]

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fake autographed rock memorabilia sold at charity fundraisers

FAKE AUTOGRAPHS on rock & roll memorabilia being sold at charity fundraisers sounds like the act of a misanthrope or even a sociopath more. Cheating folk who are spending money knowing that it will go to help others is rather dastardly. And yet, huge sums of money are being spent on forgeries every day! [Continue reading]

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allan clarke as springsteen trailblazer (is this part 6 of “was bruce springsteen ever blinded by the light?”)

I WOULD BE REMISS in my love for the Hollies if I did not mention the exploits of their on-again/off-again lead singer, Harold Allan Clarke. In his second (?) sojourn from the group he helped found in Manchester, England, in 1962, he took a rather different approach stylistically to the material with which his fans had come to associate with him. [Continue reading]

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the story behind columbia 4-48405 (was bruce springsteen ever blinded by the light? – part 5)

RELEASED IN 1975, Springsteen’s third album for Columbia, BORN TO RUN, was a virtual apotheosis of all that the rock musicians of the previous generation had hoped to achieve with the form. But that was not how the first two years as a recording artist went down. [Continue reading]

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“blinded by the light” and the avid record collector price guide (was bruce springsteen ever blinded by the light? – part 4)

THE SINGLE RELEASE of Blinded By The Light / The Angel (Columbia 4-48405) may not have been a big hit in 1973 with record-buyers, but it has been a big deal with record-collectors ever since! It is among the rarest and most sought-after of Bruce’s collectable records and record-related artifacts. [Continue reading]

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“blinded by the light” off and on the pop charts (was bruce springsteen ever blinded by the light? – part 3)

UNLESS YOU’RE OLD ENOUGH to have been there THEN (the early months of 1973) but weren’t paying attention or you were not a Springsteen fan (and who was back then outside of a small circle of friends near Asbury Park?) or not a fan now (and who isn’t?), then you know that Springsteen’s “Blinded By The Light” single did not make the charts here there and everywhere. [Continue reading]