It’s one of the most famous guitars in the history of Rock ‘n’ Roll. It’s been around the world more times than a Delta 747, performing before billions of screaming fans. You may have seen it in concert, at the Super Bowl or on the iconic cover photo of “Born to Run.” Yet this summer, when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band hit the road in support of “Working On A Dream,” the one place you won’t see this 1952 Fender Esquire is in the hands of The Boss.
You’ll have to go to Cleveland.
Fender Esquire from "Born to Run."
Toledo Free Press was offered an exclusive March 27 behind-the-scenes tour of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s latest exhibit, “From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen.”
The exhibit, four years in the making, offers a rare and extensive glimpse into the life of Springsteen. From childhood photos to pages of original handwritten lyrics, the exhibit is the largest the Hall of Fame has ever dedicated to a single artist.
“Bruce worked with the hall on our ‘wish list,’” said Jim Henke, the hall’s vice president of exhibitions and curatorial affairs. “Pretty much everything we asked for, we got.”
Including the Fender Esquire. Springsteen was willing to box up guitars, recording machines, outfits and even his Oscar, but getting the guitar to Cleveland from New Jersey was a different trip.
“He put it in a car and his guitar tech drove it here,” Henke said.
Much like the famed guitar, Henke has traveled the world with Springsteen. In 1988, he tagged along on Amnesty International’s Human Rights Now concert tour and wrote a book about the experience. He spent years exploring the possibility of an exhibit with Springsteen, months preparing items and days working side by side with the man himself, interviewing and inquiring about each artifact to make the exhibit, and experience, unique.
His participation in not only putting the exhibit together but showing it off adds layers to the tour. In describing a poster from one of Springsteen’s early bands, Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom, Henke said Springsteen started the band so all his friends could be part of the action, even those who couldn’t play an instrument.
“He had friends on stage that would sit and play Monopoly. And they could say ‘I’m in the band,’” Henke said.
Rare glimpse
“From Asbury Park to the Promised Land,” a two-story exhibit, is arranged chronologically and allows visitors to glimpse photos of a young Springsteen at the Jersey shore with his family and see the foundation and building blocks of the artist’s career, musically and socially.
In rare photos, one can see Springsteen’s parents, so famously talked about by Springsteen in long, mid-concert soliloquies. The roots of his political activism, most recently visible in his support of President Barack Obama, can be seen in a concert poster for a George McGovern rally in which Springsteen took part. The hours and hours of honing his songwriting are demonstrated and dissected with a wall full of notebooks containing handwritten lyrics.
T-shirt and jeans from "Born in the U.S.A."
“To me, that’s the most fascinating part of the exhibit,” said Lauren Onkey, vice president of education and public programs for the Hall of Fame. “It’s a look at his craft. It’s really a historical treasure.”
As if seeing the handwritten pages are not enough, the exhibit features the table where Springsteen penned many of his songs.
Onkey said she plans to incorporate portions of the exhibit into the Hall of Fame’s educational programs, specifically utilizing Springsteen’s lyrics to look and discuss social change.
The exhibit is a collection of amazing artifacts, including the 1960 Corvette Springsteen bought in 1975 to celebrate the success of “Born to Run;” the saxophone Clarence Clemens used just to recorded the solo on “Jungleland;” the Oscar Springsteen earned from “Streets of Philadelphia;” the jeans and white T-shirt he wore on the cover of “Born in the USA;” and electric and acoustic guitars from several stages of his career.
Listening stations allow visitors to hear recordings of a young Springsteen performing with The Castiles, the demo tapes for Columbia that earned him a recording contract and a live recording from the concert that sparked Jon Landau’s famous quote (“I have seen the future of rock ‘n’ roll, and its name is Bruce Springsteen”) and a storied 1978 concert from the Agora in Cleveland.
The exhibit, which opened April 1, runs through the spring of 2010. Henke said Springsteen himself “will come at some point.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is open 363 days a year, every day from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. On Wednesdays, the museum is open until 9 p.m. It is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas. From Memorial Day through Labor Day, the museum is also open until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Adult admission is $22, seniors (65+) are $17, children ages 9 to 12 are $13, and children ages 8 and under are free with the purchase of adult admission
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