Latest / Booked On Rock with Eric Senich / Bruce Springsteen's Concerts: A Journey From Despair To Joy [Episode 313]

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Bruce Springsteen's Concerts: A Journey From Despair To Joy [Episode 313] · Booked On Rock with Eric Senich

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On this episode of Booked on Rock. At the age
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: of sixty and Able decides to quit her job and
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: go to Australia to see a series of Bruce Springsteen
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: concerts in hopes that it will pull her out of
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: a lifelong debilitating depression. What happened? Find out next. We're
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: totally rock and roll.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'll leave you. You're reading, Little Hans says
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: it's time to rock and roll.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Roll up, we are totally booked. Everybody. Welcome back to
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Booked on Rock, the podcast for those about to read
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  Speaker 1: and rock. I'm Eric Sinich our guest this episode is
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  Speaker 1: An Able, the author of the memoir High Hopes. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for being here.
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  Speaker 2: An, thank you so much for having me such.
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  Speaker 1: An inspirational story. I read the book. I'm a huge
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  Speaker 1: Springsteen fan. I was just saying before we began, not
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  Speaker 1: at all surprised of the effect that Bruce's shows can have.
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  Speaker 1: But your story is it's really It's one of those
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  Speaker 1: or that it's almost hard to believe, but it's true.
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  Speaker 1: Talk about the inspiration behind this trip. What led you
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  Speaker 1: to Australia to see Bruce Springsteen?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, Well, I suffer with severe recurrent depression. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I am really depressed. I had been impatient in a
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  Speaker 2: psychiatric hospital twice, each time had two regiments of ECT,
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  Speaker 2: and then the summer before my first concert ever at
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  Speaker 2: the age of fifty nine, I had never been to
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  Speaker 2: a concert, but that summer I had my third regiment
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  Speaker 2: of ECT and it had to be aboarded halfway through.
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  Speaker 2: I was outpatient, but it had to be aboarded halfway
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  Speaker 2: through because I was losing my memory. As a result,
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  Speaker 2: I did not remember the July wedding of my son
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  Speaker 2: and daughter in law, so Labor Day Weekend, a couple
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  Speaker 2: months after their wedding, Friday before Labor Day Weekend, my
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  Speaker 2: son daughter, who lived in Boston, called on Friday and said,
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  Speaker 2: we want to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert in Philadelphia.
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  Speaker 2: Can we come and stay with you? And I was thrilled.
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  Speaker 2: I was feeling sorry for us that we didn't have
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  Speaker 2: any fun plans, and then I said of course. Then
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  Speaker 2: he said, a do you want to go with us
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  Speaker 2: to the Bruce Springsteen concert? And I said, why would
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  Speaker 2: I want to go with you to At seven o'clock,
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to sleep. And then he said, well, Ken Kyle,
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  Speaker 2: that's his wife. Bring her wedding dress and show you
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  Speaker 2: since you don't remember the wedding. So they arrived on
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  Speaker 2: Saturday with the wedding gown, and my daughter in law
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  Speaker 2: is a second generation Springsteen fan, and she had just
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  Speaker 2: been catching up on her New Yorker magazine since the
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  Speaker 2: wedding and had read a David Remnick's story about Bruce Springsteen.
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  Speaker 2: And I think she said he was turning sixty three,
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  Speaker 2: so she better see him soon. So I wasn't really
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  Speaker 2: sure what batman, since I'm only three years younger. He
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  Speaker 2: was going to die? Didgiman he was going to retire.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to think about it, but so they
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  Speaker 2: came on Saturday. And then the only thing that helps
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  Speaker 2: me with my depression is working out. So Sunday morning,
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  Speaker 2: I got on my bike. I'm listening to the Golden
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  Speaker 2: Oldies my husband put on and then I'm thinking, I
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  Speaker 2: want to go to that concert just to spend time
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  Speaker 2: with my kids. So we went, and as we're sitting there,
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  Speaker 2: since I didn't remember the wedding, they're showing me thousands
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  Speaker 2: and thousands of photographs on their phone. And then suddenly,
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  Speaker 2: as the crowd mysteriously rose in Unison, I rose too,
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  Speaker 2: and up on the screen was the face of a
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  Speaker 2: man with the biggest, kindest smile I had ever seen.
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  Speaker 2: And for the next three plus hours, that man's energy, humanity,
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  Speaker 2: and enthusiasm lifted me. For three plus hours, Bruce Springsteen
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  Speaker 2: made me feel like I had a chance. The following Saturday,
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  Speaker 2: my husband and I went to Chicago to see him
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  Speaker 2: in Wrigley Field. I mean, I didn't understand the words,
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  Speaker 2: but the music it was like it just came. And
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  Speaker 2: we were up on the third tier of the fourtier stadium,
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  Speaker 2: but he was tapping and strumming and singing, and it
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  Speaker 2: just looked like this man didn't want this was where
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  Speaker 2: he wanted to be with me and the other forty
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  Speaker 2: thousand people. It was just wonderful. And for the rest
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  Speaker 2: of the fall, I went to a few more concerts
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  Speaker 2: if I could drive to them. And then a year later,
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  Speaker 2: exactly a year later, thirteen months later, I had been
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  Speaker 2: teaching at the Community College of Philadelphia for five years
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  Speaker 2: and it was great, but this one year I had
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  Speaker 2: the class from hell and one the fifth week of
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  Speaker 2: the semester in October, after having literally one desk too
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  Speaker 2: many thrown at me. I mean, can you imagine these
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  Speaker 2: chair desks being thrown? I just walked out the door.
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  Speaker 2: It was twelve o'clock. I burst out of the building.
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  Speaker 2: The sun is on me, it's warm. I'm looking at
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  Speaker 2: the beautiful foliage, and I thought, I deserve better than this.
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  Speaker 2: I am never coming back here. But as soon as
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  Speaker 2: I was in my car making a U turn, I
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  Speaker 2: was panicking. I was terrified that with my kids grown
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  Speaker 2: and living on office and coasts, and my husband traveling
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  Speaker 2: without the structure and focus of the classroom, I would
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  Speaker 2: fall back into the abyss. I was not doing any
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  Speaker 2: more ect. The Third Regiment had given me atypical job pain.
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  Speaker 2: It took them six months because when you bite down
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  Speaker 2: during when they shock you, they put a plate in
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  Speaker 2: your mouth, but sometimes it just you clench. And I
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  Speaker 2: just wasn't doing it again. I was sixty years old.
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  Speaker 2: I knew myself as well as any but any mental health.
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  Speaker 2: I needed a lifeline, and I needed it fast. And
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  Speaker 2: as I'm merging onto the expressway, I remembered seeing somewhere
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  Speaker 2: that Bruce Springsteen was going to be touring in Australia
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  Speaker 2: in February. This was October, and I thought, that's it.
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  Speaker 2: I will go to Australia and follow the tour. Now
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  Speaker 2: I hate to travel, I hate to be alone. And
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  Speaker 2: remember I hadn't known who this guy was thirteen months ago,
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  Speaker 2: but Bruce Springsteen's concert made me feel hopeful, They made
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  Speaker 2: me feel alive, and they were fun. Until I went
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  Speaker 2: to my first Bruce Springsteen concert, I had never done
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  Speaker 2: the three letter F forort. So I got home that
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  Speaker 2: day and without even taking off my coat, without saying
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: alone to my dogs, I sat down, googled Australia travel agent,
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  Speaker 2: wrote to the first five who popped up, and the
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  Speaker 2: next day one of them called me, and I just
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  Speaker 2: booked the trip with her. I said, all I want
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  Speaker 2: to do is work out, go to concerts. There were eight,
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  Speaker 2: and write, and I wasn't surprised by the first two.
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  Speaker 2: But I suffered with severe writer's block. And in the
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  Speaker 2: five years i'd been teaching, I had been happy teaching
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  Speaker 2: other people to write. But as I was thinking about
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  Speaker 2: this trip, I get my will to be happy must
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: have bubbled up and reminded me that I also wanted
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  Speaker 2: to write. So I booked the trip in October and
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  Speaker 2: I just tried, and as soon as I booked it
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  Speaker 2: I was like, this deal was sealed, I was doing it.
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  Speaker 2: And then the voice in my head said, you're doing
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  Speaker 2: what and able you are so pathetic. You have nothing
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  Speaker 2: better to do with your life than chase an aging
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  Speaker 2: arch star across the world. And that just went on.
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  Speaker 2: That voice looped for three months and then but I
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  Speaker 2: just ignored it. But then a month before the trip,
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  Speaker 2: I could no longer ignore that in exactly twenty eight days,
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  Speaker 2: I was going to be on a sixteen hour flight
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  Speaker 2: to the other side of the world alone. It was
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  Speaker 2: January first, and by now I couldn't even remember what
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  Speaker 2: I liked about Bruce Springsteen. So I sat down and
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  Speaker 2: googled him, and I had never watched a YouTube video before,
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  Speaker 2: but it was the first thing on the screen, and
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  Speaker 2: it was Super Bowl two thousand and nine. I clicked
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  Speaker 2: on it, and oh my god, there on a halftime stage,
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  Speaker 2: surrounded by a football field of cheering, clapping fans, Bruce
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  Speaker 2: Springsteen took the mic, leaned into the television camera and said,
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  Speaker 2: is there anybody alive out there? And chills just went
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  Speaker 2: running through me. And I watched that many times that night,
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  Speaker 2: and for the next twenty eight days, I watched that
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  Speaker 2: eleven minute video multiple times a day, and till finally
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  Speaker 2: the dreaded day of departure, I watched it one last
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  Speaker 2: time and went and then I got on the plane
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  Speaker 2: and I was like, oh wow, I did it. And
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  Speaker 2: then the voice in my head said, so what, Anne,
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  Speaker 2: Now You're gonna fly sixteen hours across the world for nothing.
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  Speaker 2: So when the plane took off, when the cabin lights dim,
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  Speaker 2: I took to ambient and knocked myself out. And then
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  Speaker 2: eight hours later I woke up and I was halfway there.
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  Speaker 2: I went into the bathroom and as I was pushing
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  Speaker 2: the paper towel in the bin with one hand and
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  Speaker 2: opening the lavatory door at the other, I glimpsed myself
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  Speaker 2: in the mirror and I turned to look and my
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  Speaker 2: lips were turned up into a smile, and I could
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  Speaker 2: tell that I was excited. And as I studied my
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  Speaker 2: smile and felt my excitement, a sense of awe came
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  Speaker 2: over me and I pictured Bruce Springsteen high above, looking
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  Speaker 2: down and smiling, and I thought, because of this man,
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  Speaker 2: Bruce Springsteen, a man who doesn't even know I exist,
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  Speaker 2: and able to about to land in Melbourne, Australia, and
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  Speaker 2: I just look back in my reflection and I said,
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  Speaker 2: you can do this, you are doing this, and I did.
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  Speaker 1: And you did when you mentioned that, as anybody alive
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  Speaker 1: out there in the book. That's what I remember so
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  Speaker 1: much about that performance, that Super Bowl halftime performance. And
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  Speaker 1: that's something that he'll every now and then he will
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  Speaker 1: mention that in concert, and it gives you the goosebumps
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  Speaker 1: whenever he does it. He's like a preacher. I know,
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  Speaker 1: he just get he elevates everybody's spirit. When he was
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  Speaker 1: in Connecticut, I live in Connecticut, he came. I've seen
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  Speaker 1: him once. No, this was at the Excel Center is
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  Speaker 1: called now, but at the time Harvard Civic Center. And
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  Speaker 1: this is when he just reunited with this. The e
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  Speaker 1: street bent to this day. I'll never forget the wave
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  Speaker 1: of energy. I was kind of back left and the
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  Speaker 1: crowd gets up, the lights go on. Here comes Bruce.
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  Speaker 1: Crowd gets on their feet and you could feel the
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  Speaker 1: wave of energy coming at you from the people. It
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  Speaker 1: was the most amazing sensation that I've ever felt. And
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  Speaker 1: to see and you're getting the vantage point from what
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  Speaker 1: he's seeing, it is absolutely it's it's like it's like
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  Speaker 1: you're going to a rock and roll church. It's really what,
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  Speaker 1: you know.
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  Speaker 2: One of my favorite things that he says sometimes is
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  Speaker 2: I can't give you life everlasting, but I can give
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  Speaker 2: you life in this moment. Yes, that's it. That's what
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  Speaker 2: it's like. That's what it is.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Booked on rock podcasts. We'll be back after this.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: When when will patience with the patients? Absence makes the
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: heart grow fonder?
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  Speaker 1: What did your husband say? You mentioned that in the book,
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  Speaker 1: you talk about that. What was his response right away?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I came home and after I, you know, wrote
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  Speaker 2: to the travel agents, I called him, told him I
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: had quit. And he's like, he said, I understand you've
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: been having a hard time. And he's a professor. You
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: had a sabbatical that year. And I said, well, will
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  Speaker 2: you go with me? And he said no, I don't
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  Speaker 2: like Bruce Springsteen. I don't like the seats. They're not
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: good for my back. So I said, okay. Now. A
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  Speaker 2: few months later, in December, a month before my trip,
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  Speaker 2: I was in bed and he was packing for a
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  Speaker 2: trip and I'm watching him. He's like such a professional packer.
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  Speaker 2: And then I realized this. My husband would do anything
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  Speaker 2: for me, really anything. He just anything he could do
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  Speaker 2: to make my life a little bit better. But yet,
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  Speaker 2: So I'm sitting there watching him pack, and I'm thinking,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: but why isn't he going with me? So I stood up,
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  Speaker 2: I went over to him, and I just looked up
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  Speaker 2: at him and I said, you would do anything for me,
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  Speaker 2: but you won't go with me to Australia. And he's
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: taller than I am, and he looked down and there
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: was a split second and he said, okay, I'll go.
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  Speaker 2: And I just stood there staring at him, and as
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  Speaker 2: you know, neither of us moved a muscle. It was
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: probably like a second, and I was imagining us running
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  Speaker 2: from one airport to another and him not being able
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: to do his work and his not being happy, and
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  Speaker 2: I just thought, I am going to have enough trouble
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  Speaker 2: taking care of myself. I don't need to be worrying
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  Speaker 2: about him. And I just said that's fine, I'll go myself.
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  Speaker 1: And sure enough you did. Yeah. Yeah. And there's great
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  Speaker 1: stories that are throughout this major story about going to
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: see Springsteen in Australia, which one example is a Springsteen
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: fan in New Jersey. There was a snowstorm right and
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: there was a Springsteen fan there who worked at the
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: airline who helped you out.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is great. Now. I hate last days of things.
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  Speaker 2: So I was leaving on a Saturday. So Friday my
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: son called. Used to call it the Cabin of Sorrow,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: like the day before he'd go back to school and
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: we'd all because tomorrow at this time we won't be together.
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  Speaker 2: So I hate those Fridays, but I think less. Thursday,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: a friend called me and said, an, there's a snowstorm.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: I was supposed to leave on Saturday and go out
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: to LA and fly to Australia from there, and she
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: cashed it. And there's a snowstorm coming. You've got it.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: You've got to go out a day earlier. And I
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: just I didn't want to go on this trip, but
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: I had to go on this trip and no snowstorm
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: was going to stop me. And I ran to call
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: the US air and I told her that you know this,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: because well we don't show any weather, we'll have to
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: change charge you a change fee and I and I
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: said fine, And then as she's clicking away, I don't know,
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  Speaker 2: I just started talking. I said, Oh, I'm going to
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: see Bruce Springsteen and she goes, oh, really, my sister
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: wants some and then we started talking about it and
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  Speaker 2: I said, She said, yeah, he's really amazing. And I said,
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  Speaker 2: I know I wouldn't be doing this trip if you weren't.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: And she said, just a minute, I'll put you on hold.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't know what she was doing. And then a
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: minute or two later she comes back and she said,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: my manager is also a Springsteen fan. We're going to
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: wave weather Fee And I still get chills remembering that.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: And I felt like there and I said after where
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: she was? She was in Texas, her sister was in
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: New Jersey, and there I was in Philadelphine. I just
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: said by by saying Bruce Springsteen, I had become a
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: link in a chain from Philadelphia to New Jersey to Texas.
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  Speaker 2: And it was just one. And this happened on a plane.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: When I got on, the flight attendant asked me where
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: why I was going. And I have to tell you
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: I was so embarrassed to tell people what I was doing. Yeah,
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: friends rolled their eyes at me. They you know, it
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: must be so nice to be able to just go,
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: you know, off to Australia. So the flight attendant and
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: she said, what are you doing? Why are you coming
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: to Australia. So I kind of winced and told her
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: and she said, oh my, you're so courageous. And later
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: one of her colleagues came over. But that was part
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: of what helped me. I didn't go on this trip
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: to change. I just went for structure and focused. But
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: I I came home a different person. And a part
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: of it was the kindness of strangers that I met
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: along the way who just looked at me a different way,
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: different way than people at home had been looking at me.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: And I would force myself to step outside of myself
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: and try to see me Pete. These strangers were describing
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: And at.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: The hotel you met members of the band. You also
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: met the longtime manager, Bruce's longtime manager, Barbara Carr. And
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: this is a story that's in the book that is
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: also inspirational. It's about a song. It's a it's a
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: little known Springsteen song, but if you're a hardcore fan
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: who I am, I know the song should I Fall Behind,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: which is from nineteen ninety two. It's an album Lucky Town,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: and it's a beautiful song. And this one he played
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: in concert and it's a song you've never heard before,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: but you later found out that there was a story
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: behind that song regarding Barbara Carr. Can you share that?
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I don't know if I should tell the
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: so I'm standing. I ended up staying in the same
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: hotels as Bruce Springsteen and much of the band, and
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: at my first my first day there, I had heard
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: and I'm an inveterate fly on the wall, that is
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: my favorite thing to do. But I'd never been a
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: fly on the wall an a list hall. But I'm
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: standing there. I heard two people behind me talking, a
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: woman sounded like she was about my age, and then
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: a younger man, and then he left, and I kind
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: of had a feeling maybe they were he was part
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: of the band, so I turned around. We started talking.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Finally I asked her who she was, and she said
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Barbara Carr. Didn't mean anything, and then she said, well,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: I've been Bruce Springsteen's manager for however many years it was,
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: and someone had given me a book before I went
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: on my trip, so I looked her up, and the
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: second time I found out it was just really tragic.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Her daughter had died of sarcoma, a rare cancer, at
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: the age of twenty one, and I read that she
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: was engaged to be married and Bruce Springsteen and his
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: wife were going to play If I should fall behind
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: at the wedding, but I read it instead. They played
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: it at the funeral. They sang it at the funeral.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Our guest this episode is Anne Abel. She's the author
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: of the memoir High Hopes. And there was a moment
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: when Bruce walked by you after the first show and
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: you decided not to try to get his attention, touch him,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: get a selfie with him. I'm curious as to why
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: did you feel like it was kind of like a
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Wizard of Oz moment, like maybe he's not going to
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: be what exactly imagine?
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, there were two reasons. The first tid I thought
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: I was this really cool person and not going to
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: go chase after. But the first the first day I
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: was in Adaie before my first concert, I'm sitting in
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: the lobby and first these guys came out of the elevator,
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: all dressed in black, and I went running and I
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: thought it was really cool that I was just going
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: to watch. But the minute I saw these bann people
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: went running up. I said, oh, are you part of
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: the e Street fan? And they laughed and in an
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Italian acts and said, oh no, we're not, you know.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: So I went and sat down, and then Tomarello came
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Jake Clement, and I just went I went running over.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: You know, there was nothing cool about me with my
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: cell phone, you know, take a picture. And then I
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: had a bag that's and Tomarello was really He said, okay,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: but I'm in a real rush. So I said, okay,
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: but I have to go get my bag. It had
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: someone had given me iHeart Bruce Springsteen. I said, I
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: have to go get my bag. So I took these pictures.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: And then the concierge that was you know, he had
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: been helping me with my devices and he was He said, oh,
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: have you never met Bruce Springsteen. I said, oh no.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: And then after meeting these people, I just went over
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: to his the concierge team. I said, I would don't
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: even want to meet Bruce Springsteen. First of all, I
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: don't know how would I say in one minute all
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: that this man has done to me. So that was
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: the first reason I didn't know what I would say.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: And the second reason was I don't know what kind
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: of man Bruce Springsteen is in private, but I know
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: what kind of person. I think he is on stage,
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: you know, and for me, he's a magician. He's up
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: there and he casts a spell on me, which for
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: a depressed person like me to be able to sustain
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: this kind of energy and enthusiasm about someone and it's
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: just phenomenal. So I did not want to go past
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: what I saw on stage and maybe find out, like
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: Darthy in The Wizard of Oz, that he was this
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: crimudgeon guy and I'd be stuck there in Australia following
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: some guy who wasn't very nice, and that would have
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: really put a damper on me. But so that was
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: why I did not want to meet him.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: There's another great story regarding an eighty year old man
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: who's at one of the shows with his son. He
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: had never been to a Bruce show. His son was
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: a huge fan, and something's off with Bruce. At the
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: start of the show, his energy is off, but by
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: show's end, that eighty year old went from being disappointed
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: to having the experience of a lifetime.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: That was one of my favorite stories in the book,
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: because I got there, you know, and I always wanted,
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: you know, I don't know anyone I turned to, whoever,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: have you ever been to a Bruce Swingstein show. No,
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, you're and he said his son had
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: brought him here. Is said, okay, if I tell you this.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Story, Oh yeah, absolutely, he said.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: My son is a birthday president. I think he said.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: I said, oh, you're in for a treat. And this
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: was my third in my third, second or third concert
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: in Australia. I was, by no means means a Bruce
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Springsteen expert. But he comes on and I'm just and
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: I had had a really bad experience right before that,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: so I wasn't in a very good state of mind either.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: So I'm watching him and listening to him, and I'm
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: just thinking, WHOA. Either I'm projecting or there's something off
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: about him. And then he just sat down on the
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: stage and he just starts rambling and rambling. And one
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: thing he says is if you had told me an
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: hour ago that I was going to be here now,
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't have believed you. And he's talking about aging
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: and death and you know, televisions from when he was
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: eight years old. And I look at the man next
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: to me and he just shakes his head and says,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: this is not impressive. And then we're just so I
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: usually stand at you know, concerts, but I sat down.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: Even the people in the pit were just kind of calm.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: You know. It's just like we were all just there
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: with him. And my feeling about it was that we've
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: all been you know, if we weren't there, then we've
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: all been where Bruce Springsteen was, and we're all just
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: there and we're just not really sure. And then he
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: starts talking a little faster and a little faster, and
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: then the energy and before you know it, everybody is
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: just up and dancing, and you know, it was just
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: wild and it was like we had all hit rock
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: bottom with him, and then he just brought us, like
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: triple time to the top. And at the end of
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: the concert, I looked at this man and he said,
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: this was an experience of a lifetime. But you know,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: it's like it's like he you know, sometimes he's like
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: a hypnotist. You know, he had us all kind of hypnotized.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: He's talking, we're there with him, and we're completely connected.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: And then as he starts to rise, and as he
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: starts to talk faster, we rise too. It was wonder
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: It was really wonderful.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: He's got such a command over the audience. Yeah, booked
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: on rock podcasts, We'll be back after.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: This patience boys own good things to those who wait.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: You're right about each concert being completely different. Mostly they
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: varied in the way Bruce had released his energy exactly.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: I actually there's a passage in the book at the
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: end that I love. I was driving on the way
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: to my eighth and last concert. I was going home
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: the next day. I was pretty excited about going home
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: and I'm doing and there had been seven great concerts,
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: so I'm thinking, all right, it's an eighth concert. Not
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: every concert has to be a blockbuster. You know, if
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: you're if you're a super baseball player, no one expects
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: you to hit a Grand Slam or a home run
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: every game. You can't expect and expect an extraordinary performer
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: like Bruce Einstein to hit the equivalent of a So
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: so I get to the concert. I'm sitting there thinking
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: about what I'm going to have for dinner after, what
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: I'm going to do the next morning, and all of
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: a sudden, you know, he appears on stage, and in
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: that moment, you know, it's like magic. It's and that
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: that I mean, I actually have it right here? Would
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: would I be able to.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Oh, please please do Yeah.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: I mean it's a couple pages.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: By all means, I'm enjoying this. I am loving this
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: as a Bruce fan.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: All right, So this is going to the eighth concert.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Some of this I just said. Each concert had been
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: completely different. Mostly they buried in the way Springsteen released
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: his energy. Some he'd begun in high gear, others he'd
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: worked his way up. Sometimes he'd gone up and down.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Always he delivered heartwarming, soul, soothing, goose bump moments, but
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: each time he'd done it in a different way. Writing
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: to the concert that night, I told myself there could
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: only be a finite number of ways Bruce Springsteen and
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: the EA Street Band could present and perform the high
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Hopes Tor songs. I didn't think they would be able
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: to add a new or novel twist to this final
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: concert in Australia. I knew, of course, that Springsteen wasn't
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: going to come out on stage and mechanically run through
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: a setlist of songs from the album mixed with sin
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: requests from the audience. I knew he would make sure
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: that all twelve thousand of us in the audience had
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: a good time. But I had never heard of an
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: extraordinary baseball player hitting a Grand Slam or even a
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: home run every time he went to bat. Bruce Springsteen
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: wasn't an extraordinary performer, but I didn't expect him to
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: hit a musical Grand Slam or even a musical home
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: run every time he took to the stage. Not every
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: night had to be spellbinding. But that's the thing about magic,
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: the thing about Bruce Springsteen. One moment, you're sitting with
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: your feet on the ground, your button, your chair, thinking
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: about what you're going to eat after the concert, what
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: you're going to do the next morning. Then Bruce Springsteen
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: appears on stage, and when he does, you jump to
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: your feet, You clap, you dance, you jump, you sway,
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: goosebumps pop up all over you. You're not thinking about
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: the past moment, You're not thinking about the next one.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: You're simply and holy in each and every moment, following
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: every footstep, every heeltap, every strum, every word, every muscle,
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: ripple of the man with the smile sometimes be a typic,
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: sometimes mischievous, sometimes mournful, sometimes so full. As you follow
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: this man with a smile, as he anchors you to
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: each moment he is also anchoring himself to you. You
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: do not feel alone. Feelings blossom from deep down within you.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: Some make you gleeful, some make you sorrowful, some make
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: you wondrous. You don't think about why you feel these ways.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: It doesn't occur to you to break out of the
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: moment to try to understand what's happening to you. It's
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: enough that you are in this place, at this time,
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: with this man, with these people, ensconced in this stealing.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: You do not think that you have been cast under
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: a magnificent spell, A spell that awakens every single cell
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: in your body, a spell that fills every single cell
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: in your body with pulsating light. You are not thinking
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: about feeling alive. You are alive. You are alive on
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: the here and now. You are alive with this man,
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: with these people. You want for nothing, you have it all.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: It's beautiful.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: That's a Bruce Springsteen concert.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: And Bruce himself has talked about his battles with depression,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: so I always wonder he's getting energy off of the audience.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: He's getting that same energy that the audience is getting
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: off of him.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's amazing, It's just amazing. And I remember one
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: night in Australia, he came out on stage. I think
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: it was going into Spirit in the night. He goes
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: back and forth across the stage saying, over and over,
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: how do you get through the day? How do you
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: get through the day and stay alive inside? And watching
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: him go back and forth, I thought, Bruce Springsteen can
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: say this to an arena full of fans. I must
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: not be the only one feeling like this. It's okay
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: to struggle, It's okay to struggle and to try and
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: try again. I mean, he was validated. And I'm not
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: saying every song was depressed, you know about depression, but
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: those like really resonated with me. Or I had never
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: I mean I had never had fun, I say, done
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: the three letter f wort until I went to my
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: first Bruce Springsteen concert. But one night in Australia he
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: was doing tenth Avenue Freeze Out and I was just
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: learning the words as I was going to these concerts,
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: and then I suddenly heard the words and it was
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: it's all right to have a good time. And the
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: minute I heard that, I thought, it's one hundred percent okay,
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: it's okay for me to have fun. Finally, after sixty years.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: I remember the moment. It was just like, yeah, it's
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: okay for me to have fun podcasts.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: We'll be back after this.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: I think I need a break, a little break.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, Hey guys, thanks so much for checking out the
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Booked on Rock podcast. If you've just found the podcast, welcome.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: If you've been listening, thank you so much for your support,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: and make sure you tell a friend, a family member,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: share on social media and let people know about Booked
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: on Rock. And if you do like the podcast, make
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: sure you subscribe give a five star review. Wherever you
• 28:22
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• 28:27
  Speaker 1: tune in, and on YouTube music. You can check out
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: the full episodes on video, along with video highlights from
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: episodes on the Booked on Rock YouTube channel. Find it
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: at Booked on Rock. Thanks again for listening. Now back
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: to the show and talk about tenth Avenue Freeze out me.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: There are so many great Bruce songs. I'm curious as
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: to what are the songs that you love, especially since
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: writing the books, since seeing him live. Because you talked
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: about waiting on a sunny day being one, high hopes
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: being another. We talked about it if I should fall behind.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: What are some of the songs?
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: Well, actually, I'm just putting the audio book together, and
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: they wanted to know what song I wanted for the
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: intro and outdrow and I didn't even have to think.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: I said dream Baby Dream, and I know it's not
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: his song, but he does the cover and I will
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: tell you. In Sydney he did a solo encore of
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: dream Baby Dream, and growing up I had never been
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: allowed to dream. I never even thought about it. I
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: was so busy trying to do everything I was told
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: to do then I never thought about what I might
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: want to do or be. As a matter of fact,
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: I was once seted John Oliver in the front rope
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: of John Oliver Show and he pointed at me, spotlight
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: it all and said what did you dream about as
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: a kid? And I just nodded and he moved on.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to ruin his show, But that night
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: in Sydney, watching Bruce Ringstein saying dream Baby Dream, I
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: felt as if he were imploring himself to dream. And
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: the music filled me and lifted me, and that night
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: I floated out of the arena feeling as if I
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: could dream and it didn't happen right away, but I
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: believe that once you feel something, it's easier to recreate it.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: And that was just such. That was such a profound
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: moment for me, just watching him and just feeling like
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: he was telling himself to do this and the music
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: and it's hard to put it into words, but it
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: just makes that music, it just makes I think, makes
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: you feel like dreaming.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Another cover song he did the Beg Staying Alive. Yeah,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: this is another good one too. Let's talk about this one. Yeah.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: Then he went into his classic Spirit in the Night.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: But you're right about how you felt a spirit come
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: over here.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean even if you don't, even before I
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: understood the words the music that you know his the
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: music just really went into me. And my husband is
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: very linear when we linear, so he needs to under
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: he needs to know the lyrics. He needs to understand
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: the lyrics to like the song where I just take
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: the music and I hear it with you. Yeah, then
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: you know the lyrics come.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: After that, plus the emotion he puts into his vocals
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: in the studio but also live. I mean I was
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: about eighteen or nineteen in college when I really got
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: into Bruce and just felt you just felt that energy
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: coming through just in the studio recordings. But I always
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: felt like he's there's a there's a part of us
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: in him and vice versa. He's just he's a regular guy,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: came from New Jersey, didn't have a whole lot of money,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: went through difficult times with his dad, was tough on him,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: you know. He just had a regular life. And for
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: my brother in law had the Live seventy five to
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: eighty five box set which I borrowed for several years.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: I didn't give it back until years later, and that
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: really captured the energy of Bruce Live. And that's where
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: he's That's where he's meant to be, and I think
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: he could keep going. I mean he is now. Let's
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: see how old would he be now?
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: I know because my book's coming on in his seventy
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: sixth birthday in September.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Yes, seventy six, so he is almost seventy six, and
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: he really is still bringing it. I think he's playing
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: upwards of three hours every night. I don't know how
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: much longer he can do it, but if anybody can
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: do it into their eighties, it's going to be him.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: And if Bob Dylan is still out there doing it
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: and he still loves me. Yagger, Mick Jagger, I mean
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: they love doing it. He's clearly not doing it for
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: the money. He doesn't have to do it. He just
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: loves to do. It's what he gets up in the morning,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: and that's his purpose. You know, the book doesn't end
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: with that last show. You share with us your journey.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: After you return home, and there's a visit with your
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: psychiatrist which ends with this wonderful moment. You told them
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: all about your trip, and after forty five minutes excitedly
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: sharing your experience, he holds out a prescription for a
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: sedative and waits for you to take it. What was
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: your response, Well.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: First of all, I didn't want to tell him that.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: He kept egging me on, so and I'm a what
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: can I say. I'm a storyteller at heart, So I
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: started telling him a story and then it went on
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: and anyhow, then he when I finished its time, Yeah,
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: he hands me this prescription for a sedator and I
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: just looked at him, and I stood up and put
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: my bag on my arm, and I said, I did
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: not go all the way to Australia to come back
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: to West Philadelphia and be sedated, and I walked out
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: the door and never went back. And I will tell
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: you I actually, as I said, he didn't go on
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: this trip to change. And the book kind of ends
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: shortly after I get back. But I came home a
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: different person. It was the first time in my life
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: I had a positive ball of energy. And it was
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: the first time in my life I had a story
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: about me that I was proud of. I had been
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: a writer. I mean I had writer's block when it
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: came to writing about me. You know. I worked, you know,
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: as a freelancer. And if an editor said write five
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: thousand words on that tree in the backyard, I have
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: that in a day. But if I looked at the
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: tree and said, oh gee, I'd like to write about that,
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: I'd be under the desk in five minutes. But I
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: came home I knew I had one story to tell.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: And then I got my husband to move to Chicago.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: He was having trouble. He's a professor at WART and
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: he'd been feeling unappreciated. We went there and it was January.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: It's eight degrees. I didn't know what I was going
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: to do there. And the first day, my dog walker
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: came in. I said, what do you do when you're
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: not walking dogs? And she said, well, I host a
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: storytelling open mic. There's a string of them across the city,
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: and I tell stories at the Moth. I had never
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: heard of storytelling. I had never heard of the Moth,
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: but I knew I had one story to tell. And
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: I had never been in front of a mic. I
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: had never stood on a stage. But I started going
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: to these open mics and trying to tell the story.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: And then a friend made me go with them to
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: the mob and we got there, he said, well, you
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: have to get put your name in to tell a story.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: I was terrified, but I got called. I went up,
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: I stumbled along the way as I did, and I
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: won that night's story Slam, and people had so many
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: questions they wanted to know more that ultimately inspired me
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: to write. I mean, I had to really fight through
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: writer's block to write this story high hopes, and I
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: was writing it an editor, an editor had it was
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: taking so long. It was during the lockdown, the COVID lockdown,
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: And I had once had this heart, this rescue dog
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: named Milo that I'd gotten by accident. But I didn't
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: have the heart to give back, and someone said you
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: should write about Milo. Write about Milo. I didn't think
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: I could, but then I found fifteen pages i'd written
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: many years ago. So I wrote this story Mattie, Milo
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: and Me, and it seemed like a more straightforward story.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: So I'll try to get this out into the world
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: and then I'll come back and do this Australia story,
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: which is what happened. So this trip to Australia was
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: the beginning of a transformation that is continuing today. Twelve
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: years later, when the age of seventy two, a year ago,
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: when my first book came out, Maddy Mile and Me.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: The publisher said I should go on social media to
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: promote it. And all I knew about social media was
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: someone that put me on Facebook fifteen years ago. But
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: another now by now I moved to New York City.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: That was all part of coming from going to Australia,
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: just this energy that I got that so I was
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: now living in New York. I asked my dog walker
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: in New York. She gave me. She's the name of
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: this nineteen year old computer science major at CuNi here
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: in the city, Arceenni, who did social media for her. Well,
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: I want you to know since November, we've had eleven
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: twenty one viral videos. I now have almost eight hundred
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: thousand followers.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: And I'm telling you I went and searched for you.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: You know, after reading the book, you have a tremendous following.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, I was blown away. Well this is all
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: I'm one of your many followers now, by the way, very.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: Much, I mean, and I'll tell you what happened. So
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: you know, I just want to I'm supposed to be
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: promoting my and i would start telling these stories and
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: then people would write to me and they'd say, your
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: voice is so soothing, your voice is calming, You're relatable,
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: you're interesting you, and I'm like, what are my pat
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: My father used to tell me every night at the
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: dinner table, you can listen, but don't speak. And until
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: the days each of them died four years ago, they
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: told me not to talk to them because I had
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: nothing interesting to say. And now I'm getting these comments
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: and it's like what it was surreal, and it was
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: as if it were the antidote to my parents' toxicity.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: And it's not as if I wake up in the
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: morning now thinking wow, another great day to tell a
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: great story. And our city doesn't tell me who's turned
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: twenty one today. He doesn't tell me ahead of time
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: when videos were going to do, because when he does,
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: I say, I can't do it. But I don't feel
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: like the person these people describe. But I think about
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: what they say. And then when our SINNI says three
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: two one go, I turn off my brain and I
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: do it, and I'll tell you he started. My husband
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: and I only moved here. All we would do on weekend, well,
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: we go to doctors. We love the healthcare and the
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: and the theater here. That's what we did in New York.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: But then our city said, okay, we've got to start
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: going around. He'd looked for viral things in New York
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: pastries or whatever, and we started. It was he's it's
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: our kids are living in California. It was great for
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: us to have this young you know, and he's really
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: really nice, and we'd be running around doing these things.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: And then someone said to me, it looks like you're
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: having fun doing this, and again, I don't do fun,
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: but it was it made it more fun knowing people
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: wanted to see these things, you know, they'd write and say,
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: oh love these. So then my husband was supposed to
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: go to Paris a year in September last year to
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: give a paper, but then he had surgery so he
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: couldn't go, so he rescheduled for June. And someone said, well,
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: maybe you in our city should go to Paris and
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: do posts there, so I who don't like to travel
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: are safe. And I and my husband went to Paris
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: and we did. But you know, it's just how my
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: life has just changed, changed it. And this is what
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: if you had told me a year ago any of
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: this was halded. And I'll tell you once the I
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: started going viral, Maddie Milo and Me is still a
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: best seller.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's well, I was going to ask you
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: how much the social media following has helped in getting
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: the attention out on the books, and I can imagine.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: And last week I posted I did a post on
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: dream Baby, dream Well. Last week, High Hopes was the
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: number one Amazon bestseller in the depression category. It was
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: it was like down there, it was, you know, so
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: social media, you know it's I don't you know, I
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: don't know exactly, but you can almost see after the
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: videos go viral and then you check the Amazon ranking,
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: you can kind of you know there's there's a connection.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: But sure, look at me.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: I'm seventy two and I go out on the street
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: and people's young people and so many young people.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: Oh on TikTok, so many Oh tiktoks are younger. Yeah,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: TikTok's got a younger audience. However, I do use TikTok.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: I use TikTok for the podcast because there are there
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: are people younger that I hope appreciate classic rock. That's
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: what this podcast is about. And sure enough there are.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, I was at a movie theater the other day.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: I was wearing a Beatles Yellow Submarine shirt and this
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: girl behind the economists for like eighteen nineteen twenty. She goes, oh,
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: I just saw that movie. I like the Beatles. I said, oh,
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: what movie? And I'm thinking movie. I mean, this is
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: a young person. Maybe they were talking about the Disney
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: documentary on Let It Be. She goes, no, no, Yellow Submarine.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: I saw the movie, you know, the movie from the sixties.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Like wow, I said, that's cool, man, I said, you're
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: preaching to the choir. I mean, the Beatles' music is
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: timeless and it just you know, generation after generation loved
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: the music. She goes, oh no, I love the Beatles.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: It's like, thank you. So yeah, TikTok is huge for
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: you as well. I saw the one you had. There
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: was a video where you at your place in New York,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: which I have a fear of heights. I don't know
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: how you do that. You're walking out on that Wow,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: your husband's out there, are taking the dog out. There
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: was one where you were on the beach. Is it
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: North Carolina?
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw. It's just but you're just being you.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: That's all I know how to do.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: And that's the lesson here is for people that struggle
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: with depression. It's never too late. It can happen at
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: any time. These types of things you just have to
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: because you said this, this experience has guided you ever since.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: So I'm curious as to what you meant by that.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: I mean that when that that negative voice starts to
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: come in, has it changed the way you've You've battled
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: that voice.
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: I still suffer with depression. I don't think I'm not
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: going to speak for everybody. I don't think depression is
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: something you really get rid of, especially when it's really sick.
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: But First of all, my parents died four years ago,
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: and that helped a lot. But this has helped. One
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: of the things I always wanted to do is be
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: part of a conversation. I wanted to be part of
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: a conversation. And now I feel that, finally I am.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: Whether it's about mental health, whether it's about the power
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: of music. You know, here I am, I'm talking to you.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: I'm seventy two, and finally, and I get that. And
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: I get this from a lot of young people, you know,
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: they're twenty thirty, forty, and they say, it's so inspiring
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: to know that if I haven't made it yet, there's
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: still hope.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: And it's you know, yes, absolutely.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: And you know, I say, I'm writing my third memoir
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: and I wanted to be called she tried, and she tried,
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: and she tried because I do. And I used to
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: tell my kids, I wanted that written on my tombstone.
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: But you know, just don't give up. Just try to
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: figure out what it is that ignites you. And that
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: way I came back, and this in the book. I
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: came back from Australia after people there saying, you know,
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: positive things to me, and I came back to these
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: friends and a lot of family who they didn't want
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: to hear. They just wanted to see me as a
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: depressed person. And I'll tell you I got rid of
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: every single one of them. My husband and I yesterday
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: we were married forty seven years, but we had been
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: married thirty five years. For two years, we were at
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: each other's throats. He had a lawyer, a divorce lawyer,
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: because I had this energy, and I think, you know,
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: I was upsetting the status quo. I got him to
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: go to Chicago, and but you know it was it was.
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: It was scary for him because I came home. I mean,
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: I was still depressed, but I was gonna fight. I
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: wasn't going to let anyone take this positive ball of
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: energy that I had worked so hard to get, whether
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: it was a psychiatrist or my friends who rolled their
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: eyes at me when I came home. You know, I
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: just wasn't taking that anymore.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: Book on Rock podcast, We'll be back after this.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: Patience, Patience, little deer, everything has to be in order.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: Find the bookked on Rock website at booked on Rock
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: dot com. There you can find all the back episodes
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: of the show, the latest episode in video and audio
• 44:13
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• 44:15
  Speaker 1: to the podcast, plus all the social media platforms were
• 44:19
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• 44:23
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• 44:27
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• 44:30
  Speaker 1: before you go, check out the booked on Rock online store.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: Pick up some booked on rock merch. It's all at
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: booked on Rock dot com. I'm sure people listening to
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: this are wondering, does Bruce know about this book.
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: People he has helped. I am just one a billion people.
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: I have just one of a billion.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: Well, it might get back to him, It might get
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: back to him. Well, there's one last question. The book's
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: cover there's a picture of a Fender guitar with a
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: there used to be Bruce's writing on it. Is there
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: a story behind this?
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a First of all, you have to know
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: with me, there's always a story, all right. So, right
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: after my first concert, someone told me that Bruce Springsteen
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: there's something called stand Up for Heroes. It's the Bob
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: Woodward Foundation. I was living in Philadelphia, said, Bruce Springsteen
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: performs there. So I was in Philadelphia. I was like
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: a hillbilly. I had never really gone to New York.
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: I got on the train, I came by myself. I
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: went to this stand up for heroes and what it was.
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: Bruce Springsteen came at the end with his guitar, and
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: now I was so out of it. I didn't even
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: know Bruce Springsteen ever performed alone. I didn't know he
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: played the guitar by himself. And then they optioned this
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: guitar off and I was like, oh my god, like,
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: what would happen if I spent five thousand dollars on this?
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: When my husband said, of course, you know, it went
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: for much more. But then I started going there. I
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: went for two years. In the third year, they were
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: auctioning it off and the person got it and then
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: he's before he said yes, he said, but I want
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: a tin of your mother's lasagna. So the auctioneer looked
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: at Bruce spinste he said okay. The next year the
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: person said I want a tin of your mother's lasignan
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: and I want to have it at your house, and
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: Bruce Spinstein said, okay. So I just my husband and
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: I was like, oh my god, can you imagine like
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: the conversation I want, I want to go. I have
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: to have this. I don't care what we have to sell.
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: And my husband's like, okay, we're not going to talk
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: about this for a year, but anyhow, and I'm saying, who,
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: who in the world that's alive would I want to
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: have a conversation with. So I went back the next year.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: I got a really good seat. I was I was
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: gonna do this. Well, guess what. They weren't doing that anymore.
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: Instead it was you can you could win the guitar
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: the guitar. But it came with Becks. It was right
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: before the River tour that he started up again and
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: tooth it. So you got back. You got two tickets
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: to that and a backstage tour with him. So but
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: I was so pumped that, okay, this is actually a
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: really good story. So I got so pumped I didn't
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: care what they were actually So I and another couple
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: behind me we both bid on it and got it.
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: So afterwards, they take you this isn't the Madison Square
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: Garden in the small theater. They take you up to
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: the cinderblock dressing room to do photo ops and to
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: meet and to meet Bruce Springsteen. So that's how I
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: got it. Okay. So we go up there and and
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: I have on this down coat with a heart with
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: a which I purposely wore, with a scarf with hearts
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: on it, and I'm just stilling. And now I had
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: figured out by now what I would say if I
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: ever met Bruce Springsteen. And I once had once heard
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: someone say to Kate Blanchette, I know you must hear
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: this all the time, but I think you're amazing. So
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: I thought, if that's what I'm going to say if
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: I ever meet him. So he comes in, he shakes
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: my hand, and I tell him I went to Australia,
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: and then I say that line. Okay. He goes, yeah, okay,
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: that was a really good tour. Then it's time to
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: take the photo. Ops and the other couple who had
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: won the guitar. The woman was in her forties and
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: she had long blonde hair, and she had dress blue
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: dress with you know, the cleavage and everything. He did
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: the pictures with her. Then he does the pictures with
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: my husband. And remember I'm in a winter coat with
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: a heart scarf on. So after I said to him,
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: could you could I after we do these pictures, could
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: my husband take a photo of you and me. He goes, sure,
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: so Aunt, my husband stands it with the iPhone, and
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: then Bruce Springsteen puts his lips on my cheek as
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: if he's kissing me, and my husband screws it up
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: and he has to do it longer. So my favorite
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: story about that is that Bruce Springsteen is the master
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: of minding the moment. Like if he had put a
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: kiss on that woman with the dress with the cleavage
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: like that might who knows what that would do, but
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: I would, And then I have one. I once in
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: twenty fourteen, I went to a concert in Albany the
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: day after Mother's Day and he goes to take car
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: and someone gave him a letter and it was just
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: really long, and he goes, oh, fuck, you know, I
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: don't know. And then he gets to the end and
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: it says, my mother's a big fan of yours, and
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of my mother's. Would you dance
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: with my mother? And he goes oh, And then he
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: takes her up on stage and he accused the band
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: and they danced to save the last dance for me. Now,
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: this was the day after Mother's Day. I had had
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: the worst Mother's day of my life. A lot of
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: people had had bad mother's days. Either they wished their mother.
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: You know, everyone had a mother or something, and they
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: it's up on the big screen. This woman was perfect.
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: She had you know, mom jeans and little white sneakers
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: and the perfect little bob and they're doing this dance
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: and we were all just you know, he just knew
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: how to connect. And this huge guy who was standing
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: next to me, he tasks me on the shoulder and
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: he points up to the big screen to you know, everybody.
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean. He knew how to connect
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: with everyone. And that's the same way he kissed me
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: when I got the guitar, and then I had He
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: couldn't do dream baby dreams, so he did for the inscription.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: So it was waiting on a sunny day.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: Yes, I'm trying to read. My head's turning here to
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: the side to ann Let's see what is it to
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: and from? It's hard to read his right now.
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: No, I thought I saw a breeze. Must have been
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: you know, it's one of it's the chorus.
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: But look how creative he is with just writing that,
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: like all the he does A little guitar son the
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: sun yeah, look at the signature. Yeah, that's so cool.
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: And that's on the cover of the book, which people
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: can get on September twenty third.
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: Right, reorder it now.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: You can preorder it now so you can go to
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: all the places usual places like Amazon. You can also
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: look forward at your nearest bookstore when it's out in September.
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: You can find your nearest independent bookstore a book rock
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: dot com. Now, where can people find you online? And
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: talk about website? Social media?
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: Let people know my handle is.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: Whoever's left that doesn't know about your social media?
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: It's I guess at. My name is A N N
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: E S I M A. My middle name A B
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: E L and able at. So that's what your website is.
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: An ableauthor dot.
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: Com and able author dot com.
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: Okay, a B E L not a B L E.
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: Gotcha. And I think through the website too, people can
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: also connect to the social media sites and the book
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: and ordered the book. So yeah, perfect, And this is
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: such a great discussion and I'm so happy that we
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: were able to do this again. I'm a huge Bruce fan,
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: but you know, I also have struggled. There's so many
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: I struggle with depression, but more so anxiety. For me,
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: anxieties just just always right up in my face and
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: always just it just sometimes it gets to be so
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: bad that it leads to depression, like you know what,
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: like that voice in your head like you're not going
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: to beat this, you know, and you have to fight it.
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: And for me, music has always been the most powerful
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: tool to lift you up. And Bruce has been one
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: of those guys who's been His music has been like
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: a best friend to me since I was nineteen eighteen,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: nineteen years old. And we'll be right until the end.
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: So that's why I just love this story. It's a
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: beautiful story. So thank you for being on and thank
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: you for writing the book.
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: Thank you for being so accepting about it and understanding
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: for everything that's it. It's in the books.