Then we can have sports and concerts, but not with an audience. “I don’t think we’re going to see anything until we have at least a fast, reliable test. “It’s going to be a while,” Van Zandt said of concerts. But that trek has now been put off indefinitely. Had the coronavirus not emerged, Van Zandt very likely would be preparing for a Springsteen and the E Street Band tour right now. If we don’t get a grip on this thing, the second wave is going to be worse and if we get a second quarantine, look out.” “This is the worst handled emergency I’ve ever seen in my life. “They’re making a big mistake right now,” Van Zandt said. That’s kind of interesting.”Ī longtime political activist, Van Zandt is also spending time on the phone, speaking with “governors, mayors, anybody who will talk to me” urging them not to “open up” the country and to provide economic assistance to people well beyond the one-time $1,200 federal payment. It’s a time for a reset, to think and analyze. “I’ve been going steady for so long, it’s kind of nice to be forced to stop for a minute. “I hate to say it because of the circumstances, but I’ve got to admit, I’m kind of enjoying this forced meditation,” Van Zandt said. Rather, the guitarist in Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, actor, music, TV and Broadway producer, historian, activist and educator is recovering from a three-year stretch of recording and touring with his band, the Disciples of Soul, along with other activity, like making an appearance in Martin Scorcese’s movie “The Irishman.” Unlike many, Van Zandt isn’t going stir crazy during the quarantine. TeachRock now has 200 lessons, all online, ready for teachers to use - which, Van Zandt, has also increased during the pandemic. We’ve got a Greta Thunberg lesson about climate and pollution…” So we’ve got drawing to what they’re hearing. We’ve got a Billie Eilish lesson that’s thinking about her synesthesia, seeing music as colors. How much time did they spend on stage? That’s part of what we get them to add up. “We’ve got a math lesson on how often The Beatles played in Hamburg. “We’ve got to preserve a lot of this stuff and use it, not just have it sit on a shelf like a museum," Van Zandt said. Little Steven Van Zandt and James Gandolfini share a laugh on April 7, 2002, during a Hard Rock Cafe Presents "Little Steven's Underground Garage" radio show at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York. It was scorned, however, until Brigette Bardot wore a bikini in the 1956 movie “And God Created Woman” Bryan Hyland had a 1960 hit with “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” and the Beach Party movies starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon hit theaters. Or the bikini, which, as Van Zandt elucidated on a recent Sirius/XM episode, was actually invented by two French designers - they first called it “the atom” because it was so small, the second used the nuclear tests on a Pacific atoll to inspire the name “bikini.” So we throw in some cultural stuff - who invented the surfboard, who invented the drive-in theater, the hot dog.” “People will be studying the ‘60s for years. In between songs, Van Zandt talks about the cool culture of his renaissance, hoping to pass that on to the generations too young to have experienced, say, the surf craze. So the Underground Garage goes back to play the music that influenced the invaders - Howlin’ Wolf, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and follows the invasion with the Ramones, Joan Jett, Green Day, “all the way to the future where we have introduced 1,000 new bands in the 18 years,” Van Zandt said. At the center of Van Zandt’s renaissance is the British Invasion, The Beatles-led English bands that sent American kids - like Van Zandt and Springsteen - into their garages to create the rock ‘n’ roll that gives the program and channels its name.īut that renaissance isn’t just the three or four years of the British Invasion.
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