Priest gives witness to the Boss' early gifts
Monday, August 23, 2004
Michael Sangiacomo
Plain Dealer Reporter
Akron -
Many people on the East Coast brag about seeing Bruce Springsteen perform in tiny clubs in New Jersey and Philadelphia in the early 1970s, but Fred Coleman has 'em all beat.
The retired Episcopal priest hired Springsteen and his band, the Castiles, to play two shows at "The Left Foot" teen center in Freehold, N.J., in September 1967.
What makes this more than a typical "I-saw-Bruce-first" story is that Coleman has the two shows on reel- to-reel tape.
The shows, which sound almost as good as the day Coleman caught them with a bulky tape recorder, feature a young Springsteen singing in front of a pretty typical high school rock band (with a really bad drummer).
It would be six years before Springsteen recorded "Live From Asbury Park, N.J." and eight years before his monster hit "Born To Run."
"Listen," Coleman said as Springsteen sweetly croons the lyrics to Donovan's folk-rocky "Catch the Wind." "That's nice. There's nothing to be ashamed of here."
Coleman placed the tape recorder near the stage when Springsteen performed. At the time, he was an 18-year-old high school senior, and the Castiles were a hot teen dance band in the central Jersey town. Freehold is about 45 minutes west of Asbury Park, where Springsteen later cut his musical teeth.
"Bruce was locally known. The kids liked him," Coleman said. "The Left Foot was small. It could hold about 50 or 60 kids. We noticed that whenever we booked Bruce, attendance went up."
The Left Foot was a converted storefront next to St. Peter's Episcopal Church, where Coleman was assistant pastor. It was not a dance club, but a listening room.
"The kids would sit around on pillows thrown on the floor and listen to the bands," Coleman said. "It was a nice, friendly place."
The Castiles were essentially a cover band that performed radio hits. The inclusion of songs from lesser-known psychedelic bands such as the Blues Magoos and Moby Grape show a measure of sophistication for the group.
Springsteen sings lead on almost all the songs, even a few written by other band members to which he might have contributed. Sadly, there are no nascent strokes of genius here, no prototype version of "Born To Run," but there is raw talent.
The Left Foot folded in 1968, when the dance-hall franchise "Hullabaloo" opened shop nearby. Coleman moved to Akron that year and took a job as a nuclear engineer for Babcock & Wilcox and later the Firestone power plant. He assisted at St. Paul's and St. Andrew's Episcopal churches in Akron.
He was shocked when he heard Springsteen on the radio.
"I knew he was talented, but I never expected him to get that big," he said. "I was very proud of him."
They met once more in 1975, when Springsteen performed in Akron, and Coleman visited him backstage.
"It was a nice reunion," he said. "That was the last time I spoke with him. He pointed up at me in the audience while performing and said, 'That's Father Fred up there. He kept me on the straight path.' "
Coleman packed the tapes away and did not think about them for decades until recently, when he came across them in a closet.
"I don't know what to do with them," he said. "I learned that a cassette tape I made for someone 30 years ago from the tapes has been reproduced and sold as a bootleg. It's called the only known live recording of the band. My tapes are a much better quality, since they are the originals."
He tried to call Springsteen to offer him the little piece of history but was never able to get through Springsteen's management.
Still, whenever Coleman hears the Boss on the radio, he has to smile.
He knew him when.
Here are the setlists:
Tape No. 1 (9/16/67)
Fire--Hendrix
See My Friends--Castilles
Catch the Wind--Donovan
Omaha--Moby Grape
Jeff's Boogie--The Yardbirds
Purple Haze--Hendrix
Get Out of My Life Woman--Lee Dorsey
Hold on, I'm coming--Sam and Dave
You Can't Judge a Book by it's cover--Willie Dixon
Eleanor Rigby--Beatles
Suzanne--Leonard Cohen
Tape No. 2 (9/31/67)
Shake Me, Wake Me--Four Tops
One by One--Bules Magoos
The Letter--The Boxtops
Mr. Jones--The Castilles
San Francisco Nights--Eric Burdon
Omaha--Moby Grape
Hey Joe--Hendrix
My Generation--The Who
Look Into My Window--The Castilles
With A Little Help from My Friends--Beatles
Winchester Cathedral--New Vaudeville Band
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Also beide Setlisten sehen mir nach nicht mal 90 Minuten aus.
Auch die Bottom Line-Shows hatten einzeln nicht viel mehr als 100 Minuten, wenn überhaupt. Zumindest, soweit ich das weiß