RIP, Clarence Clemons

Have to find the Bottom Line (fake) story before E Street Shuffle of Bruce and Stevie meeting Clarence.

 

http://brucebase.wikispaces.com/150875+New+York
´´Bam !....It was about, uh....it was about three, four years ago, four years ago now, about this time of the year, it was...it was around August, it was a night like this....and uh...I was working in this bar down on the Shore, right....I worked there for about three or four months, this place called The Student Prince (someone yells) (chuckles) Where you going ?...and uh, I worked there for about, like I said three or four months, it was like, there was me and it was Steve here and me and Steve, was Garry, Garry was in the band then....Southside Johnny, this cat Southside Johnny....do you folks get down to the Shore much ? (cheers)... alright, well, you gotta go see Southside Johnny´s band, he´s, he´s got a band down, yeah, The Jukes....alright (laughs).....and anyway, this is about three, four years ago, me and Steve and Garry , we´re working in this bar down there....and, uh....like we was feeling like, it was like, it was, we was feeling like.... real discouraged at the time because nobody would give us a gig or nothing, you know, we went into this bar, like the only way we got this job was this guy had just bought the bar and we went into this bar about, like, at midnight on a Saturday night, you know, when the joint, you know, should be, you know, should be a few folks in there, right, went into this place....the darkest, dampest, dingiest place you ever seen and there was nobody in there, right, so we figure, you know, so we walk up to the cat and we say ´ Listen, we´ll come in, man, we´ll play for the door, we´ll play for, you know, we´ll charge a dollar at the door and we´ll play for that´....so we had a seven-piece band at the time, we had a big band and we brought the band in the first week and, uh, and, uh and we played and we made about like....hell, we must´ve made. (Steve: ´13.75´) yeah, we split 13.75 between us....and, uh, a few guys quit, you know (chuckles)....the next week I was there with a six-piece band....threw some cat out, next week a five-piece band, this went on for a few weeks, right... until we got it down to, to like.... you get down to your boys when you´re starving and it was like ....it was like we was playing this joint and we was always figuring, like, these people was always trying to set us up like ´Man, I got the manager from the Byrds coming down here tonight to check you guys out, right.... so like you dudes better be good, right´....so, so like we would play like, like mad dogs all night and like three in the morning we´d all be sitting at this damn little table saying ´Where is the cat ? You know ? What happened to the joker ? Where is the dude ?´ so....and Steve, Steve was like, uh.... Steve was known then, he was known, he was like, he´d practise his guitar day in day out, night and day, all the time, every time I´d see him he would practise, practise, practise, right ...he always had his guitar with him everywhere he went, you know, see him on the boardwalk he´s got his guitar with him like that, you know, practise, practise, practise....so, so one night after the, after the gig, you know, after the gig, we was all feeling like down in the dumps and we was all pissed off and mad, you know, figuring ´Man, we´re better´, you know when you´re sitting there saying ´Man, we´re better than them cats and they got two records out, how come we ain´t got no record out ?´, right.....so you do all that kind of stuff, you know, so me and Steve was feeling really really drug out and we figured we were gonna go home so we figured we´d walk home down, (?) we´d walk north along the boardwalk, you know... so we got out there and it was a nasty damn night, it was raining, it was raining and, and....and the club was flooded ´cause some, like, bikers came along and ripped off the front door, right....really, they just took the sucker off, you know, brought it home or something, I don´t know what they did with it.....they ate that thing, right, so....so we was walking down the boardwalk this time of night, you know, it was late, must´ve been four in the morning.... Steve had his guitar with him....he was practising .....and we was just walking down the boardwalk figuring we wanted to get home, you know....so.... all of a sudden....way down at the other end of the boardwalk ....we see something coming, man, there´s something coming down....I said ´Steve, you see something down there, something coming ?´ (Steve : ´Uh, huh´), he says ´Yeah´.... I said ´I don´t know what that is´ but we don´t want to take no chances like, you know, we just wanted to get home, we don´t wanna fool around so....so we ducked into this doorway, you know and, and he says ´Man´, he told me to peek out and I peeked out, you know....and whatever it was, man, it was coming , it was, like, it was raining, the wind was blowing, it was in this, it was in this big mist and it was dressed all in white, with a walking stick, walking like there ain´t no rain, no wind, I said ´Steve! Are you, am I crazy or is that dude carrying a saxophone ?´ (cheers)(chuckles)....so....we figured any cat at four in the morning, dressed in white, walking like there´s no rain with a saxophone was not to be messed with ! was let to walk on by, right....so we, we huddled in the doorway and we were sort of scared, you know, like we were....we were a little scared (?) we didn´t want to get messed around or nothing, I said ´That´s all I need, come home with 3.50 and a messed-up face tonight´, so....so we heard his, we heard his his footsteps coming closer.... and they came closer and closer.....they came even a little closer than that.....ok....and, and, and we figured now, we figured this was no time to look like you´re scared, right, we figured this guy is gonna come along, we better like, you know, better act like at least like we´re bad, so here the cat´s coming and we´re starting to get ready for (?)... and, right, we´re getting ready and, and it´s like....and this cat came up and he turned and he faced off right in front of us in the doorway and we just jumped back like this.... and, and the first we did was we threw all our money down, right....threw all the damn money down, right and then, you know, like I, I didn´t know where the cat was at, he didn´t move and did nothing, right, he stood there (?) held, it was a saxophone, I took off my sneakers, I wasn´t going to take no chances, I threw that down, I figured he might want me to do that....but all he did was put out his hand....so me and Steve, man, we leaned back and ....we got.... just a little closer.... and then when we touched it was like ...”

 

When the news came out last week about the stroke, I was a little taken aback, but not surprised given his health problems.
When the news a day or two later came out that he was improving I thought it was a good thing.
Then no news for several days and I figured "no news is good news"
Tonight around 9-9:15 I turn on the computer for the first time today. Nothing on the CNN homepage (my homepage) and I'm thinking "good". Then I figure I'll check nj.com to see if there's any updates there. And when a big picture of Clarence loaded at the top of the page with no headline visible, I knew it was bad news.

So I'm a little stunned, at a loss for words, knowing that the E Street Band, will never be the same again. To paraphrase something Bruce would say it will continue "in some fashion", but it won't be the E Street Band fans have loved through the years.

I'll have to live with the stellar memories of my last two E Street Band shows - seeing the River performed in its entirety at MSG (including the Big Man's beautiful sax solo on Drive All Night) and the final show in Philly featuring my request for "Higher & Higher" (which I'm told that he told fans at book signings he loved)

 

Damn. RIP, Big Man.

I hope he realized just how many people loved his music and how many lives he touched. He was a special musician.

 

Sad, sad news. RIP, Big Man. We'll never forget you.

 

From the Boss' site:

It is with overwhelming sadness that we inform our friends and fans that at 7:00 tonight, Saturday, June 18, our beloved friend and bandmate, Clarence Clemons passed away. The cause was complications from his stroke of last Sunday, June 12th.

Bruce Springsteen said of Clarence: Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.

 

Bruce was (is) the heart and mind of the E Street Band, but Clarence was the muscle.

 

As usual, Bruce's words are healing. This is such a sad night. I am so glad now that I saw that last show in Buffalo. I'll always have that memory, as well as so many more. Rest in peace Clarence. You'll always be missed. And everyone should always remember the advice that Bruce gives us: "Live it everyday."

 

Listening to the Capitol Jungleland right now. In his prime.

 

I guess Heaven needed a Big Man to join the band.

 

Popped in the Live in NYC DVD. Badlands solo.