King Says Glad you're playing again

Submitted On: Monday, Jan 11, 2010 - 9:38 AM

If your friend hadn't asked oyu to sit in do you think you would have ever played drums again.

Boone Hawks Says Memories of the "Boss" Bruce Springsteen

Submitted On: Saturday, Jan 9, 2010 - 11:30 AM

Hi !
Boone Hawks here.
This is just a short story on my memories of Bruce Springsteen.

I lived in Pt. Pleasant N.J. on Howe St. close to the Loveland town bridge.
From 1956-1974...it was a very small neighborhood, I could see most of the houses from the front window.
I had never heard of Bruce Springsteen, but I had seen a Red? Yellow? Corvette parked in the driveway of one of the neighbor's houses.
It would show up now and again and I asked my grandmother who lived there?
She said Mrs.Springsteen (it turned out to be Bruce's grandmother).
Now, mind you, this area..was my stompin' ground, Pt.Pleasant, Belmar,
Asbury Park and Freehold N.J.
I was in High School when Bruce came to play there, I didn't see the show.
So, in 1979 I was in a Wedding Band called "Fare Share" and we were hired to play a wedding reception in Rumson N.J.
I said good, they said "at Bruce Springsteen's house"! By then I had heard of him. I said "WOW"!
The house was located off of Rumson Rd. up a long, long driveway.
We showed up expecting to meet Bruce Springsteen, Ahh, Nope.
Turned out that he let his friends use the place for the wedding.
It was a 2 story brick mansion with a patio that had "Brick Stars" embedded in the concrete, 3 storage barns (I saw used drumheads in one of them).
So, that was that, no Bruce?
Then,in 1980, my band "Escape" was hired by the Stone Pony to open up for a group, we didn't find out who it was until 3 days before the show.
"Bruce Springsteen & the E street band". I said "I'm gonna run into this
guy sooner or later"?
We set up in front of the stage (not much room) and played about 30mins.
When we finished, we moved our equipment to the side by the dressing room hallway and that's where I finally met Bruce.
I'll tell you, one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. He said "Sounded good man". We stayed for a few "Bruce" songs then left.
Said hi to him again when we played Big man's West.
And finally (strange as it may seem)went out with his distant cousin Bobbi jo Springsteen from 1999-2001(who later died of alcohol).
Final note: When I had met Bruce, he had "Star" written all over him.
What cosmic plane do you have to be on to achieve this? I'll never know?
Thanks,
Boone