one less resident on e street

The first Bruce Springsteen song I learned the words to was "Hungry Heart." I remember sitting with Laura- can't remember the year, reading the lyrics from the record sleeve. Record sleeve?! Good lord I feel old. Might as well say we put the record on the Victrola. But I digress...We read and repeated the lyrics till we had them down, then sang along with the record, belting out the best use of double negative in music history:

"Don't make no difference what nobody says
Ain't' nobody like to be alone."

Right in the middle of the song is a great organ solo that makes you feel like you're in a skating rink waiting for "Ladies Choice." That solo and so many other subtle, yet genius musical moments in the E Street Band catalog was performed by Danny Federici.

Danny died yesterday after a battle with melanoma. I highly recommend clicking on Springsteen's official site , scrolling down a bit, and watching the video clip of Danny just a few weeks ago performing "Sandy" on the accordion. The end, when Bruce kisses him and they all come to the front of the stage, is very moving. I think they knew that he didn't have much longer to play with them.

Laura and I have been very fortunate to see the the band perform many times. We hope to see them many more, but it's going to be a big keyboard to fill.