Bruce Springsteen Forum

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Where do I start? This is going to be long.

I was welcomed to the lake shortly after the passing of the beloved "Brilliantly Disguised" (Steve) and have been around ever since. I'm a St. Louis Police Officer and I met Steve shortly after his best friend in the world, Michelle, became a widow when her husband, Bob (fellow St. Louis Police Officer) was killed in the Line of Duty in August of 2000. Steve and I had two very important things in common. We loved Bruce and we would do anything to help support Michelle as she began a new life with her 18 month-old son and unborn twins without her beloved husband. To respect Bruce's privacy I will only say that he became aware of Michelle's plight and sometime around the birth of the twins, he bestowed a tremendous act of compassion to Michelle. You can imagine how Steve and I felt to see Michelle's suffering lessened by a kind act by Bruce and his wonderful team at Shore Fire Media/John Landau Management. Many of you know the rest of the story up until Steve's untimely death earlier this year. Steve died peacefully with Michelle and his mother holding his hands. Michelle remembered a dream Steve had told her about. He had told her that he was teaching Bob how to play "Land of Hope and Dreams" and Michelle and I both knew Steve and Bob were doing just that as that song and Thunder Road played at his funeral. At that time I began to think of the best way to thank Bruce for his act of kindness toward Michelle. After thinking about it for a long time I came up with a neat idea. The song "The Wish" and the first part of Bruce's Hall of Fame induction speech convinced me that the guitar his mom (with great sacrifice) bought him from a pawn shop one Christmas was a shining example of the love the two shared as well as acting as a springboard to his life as a musician. If you can imagine a re-creation of that Christmas Morning in the Springsteen home that is memorialized in "The Wish"... "On top of a Christmas Tree shines a beautiful star, and Lying underneath a brand-new Japanese guitar." The gift beacme a Christmas Tree mounted on a wooden plaque with Presents underneath as well as a newly-unwrapped guitar. Affixed to the plaque was a gold plate engraved with the afore-mentioned lyrics. For good measure I had a second one made for his mother. To ensure accuracy, with the help of Eric (Esquire 53) I researched what most likey was the style guitar his mom had bought. I learned what a Sunburst was and spent many nights hand painting two miniature guitars so they matched the one Bruce was holding in a picture he posed for with the Castiles in the Mid Sixties. Now the next step was ensuring that these "Thank You Gifts" would make their way to Bruce. I contacted Barbra Carr's office and never once did I talk to someone who wasn't absolutely wonderful and helpful. Bruce and his Team showed even more class by remembering Michelle and inviting her and a guest to the St. Louis show and providing them with the (literally) finest seats in the house. I was provided with a phone number to call on the day of the show and was told I could hook up with Barbara Carr then. A side storyline had me making the GA committment and entering the line at 4pm the day before the St. Louis show (my wife and I were #3 and #4 in line). That experience was wonderful. At 10pm Thursday evening, tragically and ironically, another St. Louis Police officer lost his life in the Line of Duty...the first since Bob Stanze two years prior. The compassion fellow fans showed me after learning of the news and discovering I was a Police Officer was overwhelming. I spent friday helping regulars Ted and Tom (very fair) organize the GA line. At about 3pm I began to attempt to reach someone at the phone number I had been provided in attempt to reach Barbara Carr. Unfortunately I received nothing but busy signals on my cell phone. At 4pm I asked arena workers if they could track down somebody from Bruce's team and I was then hooked up with one of Ms. Carr's assistants who escorted me and my wife, Amy, into the lower depths of the arena. We were asked to wait in the crew dining room until Ms. Carr arrived (in 30-40 minutes) and we were invited to enjoy all the food and drinks we could stomach. Would I soon be meeting Bruce and have the fortune of thanking him in person? Would I be able to relay the story of Steve and Greasy Lake and the Banner? Would I have the opportunity to ask him to dedicate "Land of Hope and Dreams" to Steve and Bob? Well.... first we had to wait. Ms. Carr did arrive 40 or so minutes later. Unfortunately, according to her assistant, the day was very hectic and Ms. Carr was being pulled in twenty different directions. While we waited, we did hear a flawless sound check of "Candy's Room"!!! At 5pm I suddenly realized we were 60 minutes away from the GA line being let in. A phone call to the front line revealed the arena staff was starting to put wristabnds on the first 300 in line. A sobering thought passed over me. What if 6pm passed or what if we were forgotten and we would lose the place in the GA line that I had invested 26 hours of my life into. YIKES. My wife and I both agreed it would be better to thank Bruce in person than be leaning dead center on the stage for the show. Thankfully, Ms. Carr's assistant (the wonderful Kelly)kept checking in and telling us that she was tracking Ms. Carr down. At 5:50 PM I was a nervous wreck and my wife said I was pacing more than I did when either of our two daughters was born. She went to peek out in the hall and I sat down and said a heartfelt prayer to God saying everthing was in his hands. Two minutes later Barbara Carr and Bruce's Head of Security walked in and she was quick to offer her sympathy regarding the recently deceased officer. She then took a look at the presents and thought Bruce would love them. She asked us to sit tight while she showed them to Bruce. The head of Security (Andy) couldn't have been nicer and once he heard about our fear that GA would be letting in any minute he suited us up in the proper wristbands and told us not to worry. Ms. Carr then returned and told me Bruce loved the gifts and wanted to meet us and Michelle either right before the show or right after. She then said we should get going and they would find us and they also knew where Michelle would be sitting. Andy then took us onto the floor and we walked in just as the first wave of GA's were being let onto the floor. My fellow line mates were thrilled to see us and it turns out they all would have saved a spot for us after all. Real Bruce fans are the Best!!! We took up our spot against the stage in front of Bruce and waited for the show of our lives. I was able to track down Michelle and her guest (Bob's sister) and they said they were given the royal treatment and were led through backstage and Barbara Carr told her at that time that they would meet us by the side of the stage at the end of the show. THE SHOW. WOW!!! Maybe a full review another time. Best show I have ever seen of 20 since 1988. During "Land of Hope and Dreams" my wife spots Andy and Ms. Carr waving us over to the side of the stage behind the Professor. We meet up with Michelle and Bob's sister and watch the show end from that vantage point. We are then escorted into a comfortable room with 6 or 7 others and invited to enjoy a wide selection of beverages. Somehow I am calm as I wonder if Bruce is going to pop in and say hi to everybody and that will be that. In the next few minutes we see everybody but Clarence and Nils pass by. From the Band to the Crew, everybody is commenting on how much energy there was in the show. It appears the consensus is this was the best show of the tour. WOW. Ms. Carr comes in and invites our group and another group to follow her and we end up in a hallway next to a door that reads "Bruce's Dressing Room". The first group goes in and Ms. Carr states that the man in the group is an old friend of Bruce and he brought his children to meet Bruce for the first time. We spot Steve at the end of the hall and give him the thumbs up. We then chat it up with Ms. Carr for about tweny minutes and she is an absolute delight. She comments on My GreasyLake shirt and she listens intently to the story of Steve and The Banner and Steve's committment to Michelle. She shows a true interest in how Michelle and the kids are doing. She begins to look at her watch and finally explains that those who are going back to Jersey are doing so tonight so we should expect a quick hello since Bruce might be rushed. I asked if there would be time and if it would be alright to take a picture and she thought there would be. Steve strolls down the hall and starts up a conversation and he could not have been more pleasant. He poses for a few pictures happlily and accepts our praises with humor. I told him I blamed him for me having to re-subscribe to HBO for $12 a month since the Soprano's was making its return this month. He got a kick out of that. Looking around it is now obvious that everyone (Ms. Carr, Stevie, crew and staff) are all waiting for Bruce to hit the road so everyone could go home. Stevie says he would take matters into his own hands and he peeks into the room, then enters, then seconds later out comes Steve with the group before us. Patty goes in and out a few times while we wait. Ms. Carr goes in and her and Patty come out a second later and I am now resigned to the liklihood that Bruce will probably be behind them as they make a rush for the van and the best we might hope for is a hand shake as they hurry past. Wait a minute, Faith will be Rewarded, right? Ms. Carr then says it's cool for us to go in. The ladies push me to the front and I walk in and Bruce seems sincerely happy to meet us. A handshake for me and hugs for the ladies. He says all the right things to Michelle about her loss and humbly accepts her thanks for his kind act of assistance. He then tells me thanks for the gifts and says they were "some of the most thoughtful gifts he had ever received." He was convinced that his "mama" would be thrilled by her gift and she would be very thankful. He seemed touched when I told him that I wanted him to know how much his kindness was appreciated by our entire police family. My wife is in tears of joy at my good fortune. Bruce goes on to say how amazed he was that I could make the guitars look exactly like his first guitar. He's almost giggly when I tell him I had to be told (thanks Eric) what a sunburst guitar was and he then is moved when I tell him how it took many nights of painting to get them just right. We all start talking about the show how much we all enjoyed it and my wife tells him that the album and show have the three ladies converted to my way of thinking when it comes to his music. The converation then turns to Steve and the connection to Bruce, Michelle and Greasy Lake and the Banner. He again is moved when the topic of Land of Hope and Dreams (Steve's Dream) and Thunder Road comes up. The topic returns to Bob and the police and my wife relays the tragic story of the police officer killed the night before in a fiery crash. Bruce seems concerned and moved again. Incidentally, the police officer in question was single and the only son of a wondeful couple and thankfully all arrangements for the funeral are covered so no help other than prayers and support are needed for his family and loved ones. Michelle and her sister-in-law relay the story of a man sitting behind them who kept wanting them to sit down. Bruce knew who they were talking about because he actually jokingly targeted the man and told him to get up off his ass during "Mary's Place" Michelle told Bruce the guy left a few songs later and he got a big chuckle out of that and was tickled to hear Michelle say they needed to stand and it seemed silly that the man would be the only one in the house who wanted to sit. Bob's sister was gracious enough to take picures of me, my wife and Michelle posing with Bruce as well as a couple of neat shots of me and Bruce talking together. I must say that Bruce never came close to rushing us and it was probably us who orchestrated the goodbyes, aware that everyone was waiting. In my most sincere way, I told him that I thought "The Rising" was a masterpiece and that concert to support it was just perfect. He again seemed touched when I told him that on a day when we lost another fellow officer, his music had healed and uplifted just as it had done many times before. My wife hugged him again and thanked him for being such a great part of my life and that was that. I still haven't come down. The ladies were overwhelmed by the whole night, as well. They all said they would never tease me again about this "Bruce Thing" and they couldn't wait to tell everybody about this night. To share it with my wife was the ultimate. I know that man isn't a saint, like I said, he's just one hec of a great guy! Sorry so long...just wanted to share!

Peace. Out.

Sgt. Dan

It surely ain't no sin to be glad you are alive!!!