
23.10.99 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Factory´
´´Thank you....good evening, office supply lovers (chuckles)....yeah....I´ve
kind of had a thing going all week, you know, where I´m.....I´ve
been searching for Mr.Staples, you know ....and I went back in all the history
books and I looked for a Governor Staples or Mayor Staples....but I haven´t
had much luck.....uh....but I, uh....finally somebody said ´No, no, it´s
just, just a company, you know, it´s just continuing in the trend of the
corporate-naming of public space, it´s something you´ve got to get
used to´....and uh, you know, I guess I understand that, I suppose, but....then
I, you know, I told the folks last night I read in the papers that they´re
gonna start renaming some of the major cities, you know....I thought New York
was gonna be called Barnes and Noble City actually but, uh....but I was wrong,
it´s actually gonna be Steak and Ale City, I think....unfortunately, I
believe that your, your lovely town is gonna be called Los Hooters, I´m
not sure....I´m not sure who, uh, makes these decisions....but uh....that´s
uh, but Miami, they´ve got it really bad, they´re gonna, they´re
just gonna become the Nike Swish Symbol, they´re not gonna have a name....gonna
be like ....it´s gonna have to operate like Prince....The City Formerly
Known As Miami.....yeah..... and uh.....also the, uh, governmental agencies,
the FBI´s about to become Bob´s Big Boy Bureau of Investigation,
unfortunately....anyway, I´ve kind of run out of jokes about it, it´s
not that funny (chuckles)....yeah (chuckles)....let´s just sing one.....”
23.10.99 Los Angeles, CA, middle of ´Tenth Avenue Freeze Out´
´´(sings ‘Take Me to the River’) That´s right,
that’s where I wanna go....and I wanna be baptised in the hands of the
people....I wanna find my way to that river....that river of life ....and that
river of love....and the river of faith and of hope.....the river of sanctification....
and the river of transformation.....and the river of resurrection....and sexual
healing....and companionship....I wanna go there tonight and I want you to go
with me.....because I need to go with you.....that´s why we´re here....because
you can´t get there by yourself...you can try and everybody tries, there´s
always that moment in your life when you´re running and you´re hiding
but in the end....in the end no-one, you can´t get there by yourself....and
so I found
myself as a young man....I was standing one evening before a dark grove of trees.....and
I found that I was frightened to pass through those trees to go on to the other
side even though I knew that that´s where the river of life, the river
of a full life, was waiting along with cold beer at a reasonable price....but
I stood there like a child frightened to pass through the trees and my legs
were like stone and my arms felt like lead and I said ´Uh-uh, I´m
not going !.... Man, I´m gonna run ´cause that´s what I know
how to do, that´s what I´m good at....I understand that, I´m
not going !´....because I knew there were responsobilities that waited
with that life on the other side....and I couldn´t find the courage to
face....those responsobilities....well, as I was about to turn, suddenly I heard
a voice through the trees..... a gypsy woman....gypsy woman....and I walked
through the trees and she was sitting there, I told her my problems and she
said ´Man, you need help....you can´t get through these trees by
yourself, they´re too deep and too dark, what you need, Son, is a band
!´....so I´d like to introduce tonight the dean of the university
of musical perversity, the Secretary of intelligence, on the piano, Professor
Roy Bittan....standing with me at the riverside.....the Secretary of faith and
friendship, keeper of all that is righteous on E Street, Silvio, Silvio, star
of the ´Sopranos´, Little Stevie on the guitar....stand with me,
Brother, at the riverside..... the foundation of the E Street nation, Southern
man, Mr.Garry W.Tallent on the bass.... standing with me at the riverside....the
Minister of the big beat, the Secretary of syncopation, star of Late Night Television,
Mighty Max Weinberg on the drums.....(?) with me at the riverside....the Secretary
of heart and spirit, Godfather of the guitar, the great Nils Lofgren .....standing
with me at the riverside.....the Minister of mystery, the Secretary of all things
unfathomable in this life, Brother Dan Federici on the organ and accordion....standing
with me at the riverside....now, you can´t get there without love in your
life, you can´t get there without companionship....I learned a little
equation, it goes ´Brunettes are fine, blondes are fun but when it come
to getting a dirty job done, it takes a (crowd : ´Red headed woman´)
yeah, man, I´m looking for a (crowd : ´Red headed woman´)
I got to find myself a (crowd : ´Red headed woman´) oh, now, I´m
searching for a (crowd : ´Red headed woman´) I said I got to have
a (crowd : ´Red headed woman´) oh, man, I´m looking for a
(crowd : ´Red headed woman´) sing it, baby (Patti sings a bit of
´Rumble Doll´) the First Lady of love and sweet harmony, Miss Patti
Scialfa standing with me at the riverside on guitar....thank you, baby....and
man, that was good....and I looked along the riverbanks and I saw a great crowd
of people waiting with their hands high in the air....but there was still something
missing.... something essential, something fundamental.....something that we
couldn´t go on without..... something very big....I wanna introduce the
Minister of soul, the Secretary of the brotherhood, if nominated, he will not
run, if elected, justice and righteousness shall prevail ....do I have to say
his name ?....do I have to say his name ?...say who ?....say who ?....say who
?....say who ?....say who ?....say who ?....say who ?....say who ? ....say who
?....say who ?....say who ?....say who ?....”
23.10.99 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´The Ghost of Tom Joad´
´´Alright, I´m gonna do this tonight for the folks from Children
of the Night.....an organization here in L.A (?) non-profit organization, they´re
dedicated to....kids from the ages of 11 to 17 who´ve been, uh.....sexually
abused or forced to work out on the street for food to eat and a place to sleep,
they´ve got a 24-hour hotline and....a street program that travels throughout
the western United States....they have a shelter that receives children from
....every state in the union and they help these struggling kids off the street
and back into a.... productive life, they´re called Children of the Night
and they can use your support, they´ll be out in the lobby when you go
on your way out....they´re out there on the frontline so this is for them.....”
23.10.99 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´The Promise´
´´Ok, gonna try something I haven´t done in a long time.....play
the piano (chuckles).... alright, I need some quiet for this thing ´cause
I haven´t played this song in a long time.... wait a minute....one, two,
testing.....I need a little more piano....oh, that´s too much, I can hear
myself (chuckles) little less, that´s it.....alright, uh....this is a
song I wrote as a kind of a follow-up to ´Thunder Road´, wrote it
a long time ago and uh.....this is for the, uh, connoiseurs out there, I guess....I´ll
give it a shot, I need a little bit of quiet.....”
23.10.99 Los Angeles, CA, middle of ´Light of Day´
´´L.A !....Los Angeles !.....Mr.Staples Town !....but everywhere
I’ve gone, I’ve seen people lost in the wilderness....I´ve
seen people lost in loneliness....I´ve seen people lost on their cellphones.....I´ve
seen people lost on the freeway....I´ve seen people lost in faithlessness....
lost in hopelessness...well, ladies and gentlemen, we´re here tonight
on a search-and-rescue mission, we´re trained professionals, if you´ve
been downsized, stigmatised, analyzed, paralyzed, Pokemonized, fractionalised,
factionalised, pass-another-tax-cut-for-the-rich- Republicanised, it ain´t
too late to save yourself, it ain´t too late, if your soul got bad credit,
if your heart running on empty, your spirit bankrupt, we´re here tonight,
we´re here tonight, we´re here tonight to re-educate, to resuscitate,
to regenerate, to reconfiscate, to reindoctrinate, to reillustrate, to resexualate,
to reliberate you with the power and the glory, with the power and the glory,
with the power and the glory and the majesty, the mystery, with the ministry
of rock and roll !...that´s right, that´s my job and I love doing
it ! (chuckles) ....well, unlike my competitors, I shall not, I will not promise
you life everlasting but I can promise you life....right now !...and all you
gotta do is raise your hand and say ‘I’.....”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi