VARIOUS: Free Bird on Conan

Free Bird with Will Ferrell to end the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. A righteous end to a sad conclusion of a show not given enough time to shine.

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Max-Conan-6/1/09: A Jay Update

Here’s an update. For those living under a rug Jay Weinberg, Max’s son, has been drumming at a majority of the shows, getting ready for his big debut. That debut, according to this article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, is going to be the May 21st Izod Center show in Jersey. This is a precursor to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s European leg where he takes over for a certain number of shows as Conan launches on 6/1/09. But how many? Here’s the latest:

These shows I think everyone agrees on will be all Jay:

5/30 Landgraaf, Holland Pink Pop Festival ON SALE
6/2 Tampere, Finland Ratinan Stadion ON SALE
6/4 Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm Stadium SOLD OUT
6/5 Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm Stadium SOLD OUT
6/7 Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm Stadium SOLD OUT
6/9 Bergen, Norway Koengen SOLD OUT
6/10 Bergen, Norway Koengen SOLD OUT

Then we have Bonnaroo in Tennessee on June 14 which I could definitely see Max doing. The next question is does Max pick back up with the tour for this stretch, like one rumor has him doing:

6/27 Glastonbury, England Glastonbury Festival ON SALE
6/28 London, England Hard Rock Calling ON SALE
6/30 Bern, Switzerland Stade de Suisse ON SALE
7/2 Munich, Germany Olympiastadion ON SALE
7/3 Frankfurt, Germany Commerzbank Arena ON SALE
7/5 Vienna, Austria Ernst Happel Stadion ON SALE
7/8 Herning, Denmark Herning MCH ON SALE
7/11 Dublin, Ireland RDS ON SALE
7/12 Dublin, Ireland RDS ON SALE
7/14 Glasgow, Scotland Hampden Park ON SALE
7/16 Carhaix, France Festival des Vielles Charrues ON SALE

or does Jay do all of THOSE shows and Max only does the last 8 European shows. That is the other rumor that I’ve read. The last 8 shows are the following:

7/19 Rome, Italy Stadio Olimpico ON SALE
7/21 Turino, Italy Olimpico di Torino ON SALE
7/23 Udine, Italy Stadio Friuli ON SALE
7/26 Bilbao, Spain San Mamés Stadium ON SALE
7/28 Sevilla, Spain La Cartuja Olympic Stadium ON SALE
7/30 Benidorm, Spain Estadio Municipal de Foietes ON SALE
8/1 Valladolid, Spain Estadio José Zorrilla ON SALE
8/2 Santiago, Spain Monte Do Gozo ON SALE

That is something which is still unclear (if you go through all the articles the writers have used the words “at least 6-7,” “handful,” and “several.” That doesn’t really tell us much), and may not be evident to us until the actual show.”

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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: How Jay Joined the Band

I wouldn’t be able to take the call. Flat out. I would just take it, hear what Bruce would say, and then, I don’t know, just become speechless. It’s amazing. From this Rolling Stone article:

“Springsteen’s “Secret Weapon”: How Jay Weinberg Scored a Spot in the E Street Band

Last December E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg was driving his 18-year-old son Jay to school in Hoboken, New Jersey, when Bruce Springsteen called. “He wanted to talk to Jay,” says Max. “He said to him, ‘Jay, this is Bruce. You may have heard I have a band. In that band I have the world’s greatest drummer, who has a scheduling conflict. He gave me your name and number and suggested that I call you to see if you’d be interested in playing with me and the E Street Band.’ ” Jay accepted.”

Wow…one lucky drummer there. And that’s how you solve 6/1/09 (the article goes on to say Jay will only be needed for 6-7 shows in the European leg).

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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: The Rehearsal Shows Begin

Last night, the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band began the formal rehearsal shows at Convention Hall in Asbury Park.

They played new stuff, old stuff, stuff that got messed up, stuff that didn’t work. Jay Weinberg played. Max Weinberg played. And since I won’t issue spoiler alerts you can:

Go to the Backstreets News page to read Chris Phillips’ report

Go to Stan’s blog to read BTX member Stan Goldstein’s report

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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Jay Weinberg and Born to Run

Jay Weinberg has played once before with Bruce and the E Street Band: July 28, 2008 at Giants Stadium. He played one song — the anthem — Born to Run:

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BREAKING NEWS: Jay Weinberg to Drum “Small Number” of E Street Band Shows

From Bruce‘s PR people:

” FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2009
Printable Version

Statement About Tour Personnel

In response to the many questions concerning the upcoming tour, the drummer on the small number of shows that Max Weinberg won’t be able to appear at will be a brilliant young drummer from New Jersey named Jay Weinberg. Commenting on the situation, Bruce said: “Once again, I want to express my appreciation to Conan O’Brien, and everyone on his team, for making it possible for Max to continue to do double duty for both us and for him. We promise to return him in one piece.”"

Conan begins on the Tonight Show on June 1st. While not in the press release, it is believed Max will miss shows on the beginning of the European leg that begins May 30.

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Max-Conan-6/1/09: An Update

In the midst of school and everything else I haven’t given an update on Max Weinberg, Conan O’Brien, and the 6/1/09 deadline. Nothing new to report in terms of facts (no announcements or anything), but two things have developed:

1) Andy Richter is going to return to working besides Conan as the “Tonight Show” announcer…he will also participate in some skits. That could, hypothetically, take some spotlight off of Max and enable him to escape “Tonight” and tour more with Bruce

2) Max’s son, Jay, was at the initial Bruce rehearsals this past week for the “Working on a Dream” tour. Could he be the replacement drummer? We shall see.

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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Max-Conan-6/1/09 II

Steve Van Zandt is a guitarist in the E Street Band who stands (partly) in front of Max Weinberg, gives the beats. And it’s that importance to Max Weinberg (it’s why he’s also “Mighty” in Bruce’s words) which explains why people are paying attention to the 6/1/09 dilemma. He gives a new interview to Rolling Stone about the interview, and here’s the highlights:

“So what does that mean for Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band’s tour, which kicks off a European leg two days before Conan’s June 1st Tonight Show premiere? “We’re still figuring that out,” says E Street guitarist Steve Van Zandt. “We’ll see. I think Max will be there for most of it. I just got home from Europe, so I haven’t even talked to Max to see what the latest news is. I know he was very much trying to figure it out.””

““Max will be fine until the beginning of the show on June 2nd,” says Van Zandt. “After that, we’ll see. I’m sure Max will be there for most, if not all of the tour. He’s as dedicated as it gets. I used to have to fly home every day off and film The Sopranos. He may have to do something like that. Conan, it must be said, has been tremendous. Once that second banana [former sidekick Andy Richter] split, I started to get concerned. I was like ‘Uh-oh. Now Max is not only the music director, he’s also the second banana.’ That’s a huge role to play.””

For the rest of the article, including Stevie talking about Max’s importance, click here.

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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Conan-Max-6/1/09 I

(Editor’s Note: This post begins a series of posts about Max Weinberg and his complex schedule surrounding Bruce’s tour and Conan’s reign on the Tonight Show.)

It was announced by Conan O’Brien on one of the last Late Night with Conan O’Brien’s that Max Weinberg and the Max Weinberg 7 would be the backing band when he jumps into the Tonight Show chair on June 1 of this year. The big question, however, for us Bruce fans, is how this will affect his availability for the Working on a Dream tour. In short, the answer is unknown right now.

On the side of he will leave the tour after Jersey and not go to Europe is the reasons that this is the Tonight Show, and NBC has not let recent bandleaders go off and do their own thing. In my watching of the show for the last 6 or 7 years I have seen current band leader Kevin Eubanks only miss one show — and that was for Barack Obama’s inauguration. There is also a thought process that NBC will want to create the host-bandleader camaraderie that Jay Leno and Kevin have showed.

On the other side of things — that he will continue with Bruce — is that he has been able to get out of his contract every other time in this decade that Bruce and the E Street Band have toured and why would this time be any different. Also, in a recent Rolling Stone cover story, Max spoke of the “Weinberg-Springsteen Rule” among NBC lawyers in which, to paraphrase, if Bruce Springsteen asks you to be his drummer, special concessions can be made. The final reason is that the summer months are dead months for TV in terms of ratings, and Max can afford to miss that time.

My current thoughts: I hope and pray that the latter will win out, but right now my prediction is that the former will. We will just have to wait and see.

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