I was 9 when ‘Born In The USA’ came out and I got the LP that year for Christmas. Two years later the live box set (’75 – ’85) came out and it was that year’s Christmas present as well. While ‘Born In The USA’ is a good album, when I got the box set all of the pre-‘Born In The USA’ stuff was finally introduced to me. My dad had ‘Born To Run’ but I don’t really remember hearing it growing up. But that morning after I broke open the shrink wrap, my dad grabbed the second disc and immediately put on ‘Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)’. I felt like this was a completely different Bruce Springsteen and I saw the E Street Band as more then just the backing group. Hearing how all of these guys played together (and how Springsteen introduced all of them in the middle of ‘Rosalita’) made the group seem more like a hard working team. Stories of 3-4 hours concerts and the energy on these live recordings seemed super-human to me, and I wanted to be able to do this. It was these records that made me REALLY want to be in a rock band.

I bought ‘Greetings From Asbury Park’ and ‘The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle’ on LP that next year, and I’m pretty sure I basically let my dad’s ‘Born To Run’ disappear into my collection. Except disappear wouldn’t be the right word since I played it pretty constantly. And these three albums have never really left my music rotation. In Nick Hornby’s book ‘Songbook’, he talks about how ‘Thunder Road’ is the song he has played more then any other song in his life. And it is a great song… easily one of my favorites. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it is in my top 50 songs as well. But I am almost positive that ‘Rosalita’ is in the top 10. If I’m doing work and need a kick to get going again, I put on ‘Rosalita’. If I have a little bit of time alone and want to play something loudly, ‘Rosalita’ is close to the top of the list. I’ve listened to this song for 25 years of my life, and I’m stunned how good I still think it is.

But as much as I love ‘Rosalita’, my favorite Springsteen song is on ‘Greetings From Asbury Park’. When I first moved Roseville from San Jose, for some reason I put on ‘Greetings From Asbury Park’ right after I got my stereo set up in my new bedroom. And while I was unpacking, ‘For You’ caught my ear and I stopped for a few minutes and listened. I remembered this moment when I first moved to Berkeley and started renting a room on Page Street. This time, I was living on my own for the first time and moving to the Bay Area (with little money and a low paying job) for many reasons. I wanted to be a musician, I wanted to go to UC Berkeley, and I didn’t want to move to Texas with my parents. But the main reason, the one that really makes the reasons above look like excuses to satisfy parents and others, was that I wanted to live and be with Tamiko. As I was unpacking, I remembered putting ‘For You’ on when I first moved to Roseville (where Tamiko and I would meet) and I immediately got my stereo hooked up, speakers plugged in, and put on ‘Greetings From Asbury Park’. I have done this as a bit of a ritual since then… every place I have moved the stereo is one of the first things set up, I dig out the LP, and I play ‘For You’. It makes wherever I am, whatever new strange apartment or house feel like home within a couple of minutes. And it reminds me that while I am a composer, musician, teacher and many other things, when it all comes down to it I am Tamiko’s husband and now the father to our kids. I can’t imagine being anything else to anyone else… I’m very lucky.