A recollection of seeing Bruce at MSG on August 12, 2002 and my meeting of the band

First I want to say that it was great hanging with you rmas'ers. It was a
blast, and the beer was cold :-). So many nice people, cool !!!!

I got to my long time and old time best friend. He has told me for 3 weeks
that I had section 107 and backstage passes that dont get you to far (not
the laminates). I wanted to pick them up about a week or so ago, and he said
"NO, nothing can happen". Well , I get to his office yesterday and he hands
me 4 tix and says "which 2 should we take". I said..."very funny, these are
section 314, where are the real ones ?". He explained that he was committed
to give them to a source of his and had no choice.....He was worried I was
angry at him, which i wasnt, but i had this feeling of devastation...that
would soon end. He said "dont be disappointed and at least you are in the
building". He mentioned we had backstage passes (not the laminates a lesser
type of BSP). I told him I just wanted to hear the music and really had
little interest in back stage ...that changed.

We leave his office and get to MSG at around 4:30 . I check out GA and drop
line. It was hot. Drop was huge, dont know what happened there. I saw Frank
and Ted at the front of GA ( I dont think they saw me. Ted was in a heavy
conversation, so sorry dude, i didnt say hello.) My friend says, lets go to
the section where backstage gets in. He explains that he knows John/Jane Doe
and that we were told to meet . Security was tight and said, "until they
come out and get you and give you the proper credentials, you aint going
nowhere but outside". We go outside, and then figure, well what about these
patches....He said "thats it" go to 5th floor and follow the signs.....cool
i said to myself. We get to the 5th floor and I hear a little music going
on. My friend is looking for his contact...I said...."dude, i will see you
later, I gotta check out the music". I go to the first row on Stage right,
caddy corner to Patti. They were doing a soundcheck. I was in awe. Bruce was
in what seemed like an awesome mood. Decked out in tshirt and jeans and
backwards baseball cap (appeared to be wool and cant recall now). Patti was
decked out in black and looked fantastic, gary had on a buddy holly tee
shirt ( a nice shirt at that), clarence had on like a cream colored jump
suit...... Well they practiced "the fuse", "mary's place" and "sunny day".
During sunny day, there was only one jerk who was singing out the chorus as
bruce was pretending to have the fans sing...yet, i am a little shy and I
most certainly wasnt singing that loud......During the fuse, my phone rings
(i forgot to shut it off). I didnt recognize the 732 number, figured it was
an RMASer and just kept the phone on so my rmas friend could listen.......he
didnt , he heard the music and hung up (legend has it that the good looking
guy in the rmas msg picture kneeling up front was the 732 caller ;-).  The
soundcheck was so cool for me ( i never experienced one before)...They would
do the fuse quite often as they were looking for good song development. it
was great, I didnt realize the intense focus that is being put on Nils
during this show. I think his guitar is much of the new haunting sound.
Really cool stuff....Bruce said something like...."everyone practice your
riff going in, Nils you solo to start (that's what you been doing right ?),
Patti you give the singing at the end....Roy do you know what riff to play,
Roy , do you know what a riff is ?" (everyone laughs). Often during the
rehearsal , bruce seemed to be acting in a way that was reminiscient of the
old 1974 days, where the fun and casualness was so apparant......My bruce
experience was seriously enhanced at that point......Practice finishes and I
go back stage. I was able to shake hands with Steve and Nils.....thanked
steve for the last 27 years and thanked Nils as well.....Steve was smiling
when i said that and said "thanks for your support". The next part is true,
but where most of you say  "get the fuck out of here, you are so full of
shit" ;-)  . I look at my watch, it was around 6:10 and I wanted to meet
rmas'ers. So, I split.... I say to myself "what the eff are you doing
leaving the building.....make sure this is what you want to do" I exit from
where others are dying to get in.

I met with the rmasers and had a blast. I wont mention names, cause i will
miss a bunch and I am so awful at names. I had a beer with a young good
looking guy in a white shirt and he was inthe rmas picture from deb (anyone
know who that was ?). I will say that the weissman is super cool and super
nice and super generous....so thanks dude....

Okay, the show goes on and it was rockin !!!!! good stuff and michael s had
a great review so i wont be redundant. I take my pee during "bobby jean" and
en route see my good rmas friend petes  (hi dude !!!!). orange shirts all
over and that was cool.

Show ends....we have trouble getting back stage but our contact meets
us,.....where in....Im hanging next to Spike, John Tuturo, I meet Chad lowe
and his wife (hillary swank) ?, the dude who i think created law and order
(dick wolf).....Max passes, I said Hiya. I told him thanks for all the
years...mentioned our meeting in his accountants office in 1982 and he kind
of remembered, at least remembered the office. I was brought into Clarences
dressing room. He says hi to my buddy. They talk real quick. My buddy goes
"clarence this is my friend ron"...He brings out his hand (it was big)....i
touch his hand (and when we touched....sparks fly on e......). I
said.....Thanks for the last 28 years, your music and presence and the band
has been such an inspiration for me, and now it is passing onto my next
generation. He smiles wide......he's like....dasm thats a long time. I
mentioned  that I went to the rehearsal, brought the kids outside at CH and
brought my 7 year old daughter to CAA and that I hope to bring my 9 year old
who will be 10 on 10/6 to philly....He's like...cool man...."do you like the
shows". I said, I was diggen big time, just was hoping you guys would open
with " Walking the Dog"....he laughed, said something like "oh man, that was
a long time ago". he quickly says good by to my friend....He looks at me,
grabs my hand with a big long sincere shake and says "thank you , listen you
gotta keep it strong, gotta keep it strong".   just awesome for me........ I
said hi to danny, but he was in a weird mood, appreciated my words, but was
obviously in a different place at the time ( i dont mean drunk or stoned,
just didnt seem to want to be part of that scene at the moment.). I go
inside a room and gary was sitting with a friend of his (little girl, i dont
know the inner juice, so i dont know if it was his daughter...just dont
know). He says hello, i said hello. He laughs that I have been into the band
for so long..... I said..."mind if i ask you something", he says "no ,
shoot". (this is where i might get kicked off rmas )....what do you think of
the fans who trade your music, who collect shows...I exlpain that I am one
of them....He says "I don't condone it at all, personally i dont see a
problem in collecting as long as it isnt sold or anything like that....but,
i dont understand how someone can collect so many of the same tour...doesnt
it all sound the same". I mentioned that each boot is like experiencing the
concert even if i only hear it once....He shrugged and said "well, i just
dont get it".  I asked if he was familiar with RMAS (pointing to my shirt),
he wasnt !!!  He was very nice, polite, seemed sincere, etc. (in retrospect
his words are probably correct as in truth us collectors (and im relatively
a newbie) are a little off.  I really enjoyed gary's aire. He seemed so
relaxed and cool, just a regular guy...

Well, i wasnt going to write this, but I figured with my memory and the blur
of the future, why not write it and share it....Ive seen bruce 33 times (i
didnt save tix, so the shows i went to are all blurry now in date)...this
last 4 weeks have been the bruce time of my life......the first rehearsal
from the beach and no speakers (where gerry blew me off ;-), to the 7 hours
in the sun on a friday with my kids  and not getting in , but digging it on
the beach, caa rehearsal, caa with my little girl, MSG (ahhhh) and hopefully
the train moves on.

Rock on everyone, thanks for reading my story.

ron