300 Bruce Springsteen Artifacts Coming to New Online Museum
An online Bruce Springsteen museum, BlindedByTheLight.com, will feature 300 artifacts when it launches in June, a date that coincides with the 30th anniversary of Born in the U.S.A. Among the collected objects are handwritten lyrics, concert posters, report cards and more, with more to be added in subsequent months. The site’s Facebook page currently features images of a number of Springsteen artifacts, including a passport photo, his driver’s license and the lyrics to a song called “Henry Boy” that would become “Rosalita.”
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The site’s founder, Michael Crane, has previously contributed to exhibits at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and intends to offer up contest prizes on the site every six months. The first offering is original album artwork autographed by Springsteen, with Crane noting that he would give away the singer’s 1957 Chevy Bel Air Convertible, in which Springsteen wrote “Born to Run.”
Springsteen made his own contribution, of sorts, to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year when he inducted the members of the E Street Band into the institution. “Sixteen years ago, a few days before my own induction, I stood in my darkened kitchen along with Steve Van Zandt,” Springsteen recalled in his induction speech. “Steve was just returning to the band after a 15-year hiatus and he was petitioning me to push the Hall of Fame to induct all of us together. I listened, and the Hall of Fame had its rules, and I was proud of my independence. . . And at the end of our conversation, he just said, ‘Yeah, I understand. But Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band — that’s the legend.'”
Springsteen and the E Street Band are currently on a tour that ends on May 18th in Connecticut.