OUR MAGICAL NIGHT AT GIANTS STADIUM with BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band ended an era with their final performance at Giants Stadium on Friday, October 9th.

We were honored to be invited backstage for food and drinks and "Meet and Greets" with the band and others.

I was with attorney http://www.gjtbs.com/ Rick Duplantier (featured, at left, far right), tru TV's http://www.trutv.com/ Senior Vice-President of Operations, Rob Pumo, and Vanessa Procopio, the Senior Film Editor for Showtime Television's http://www.sho.com/ outstanding Docu-Series, "Brick City."

It was, by far, the best display of talent, I have ever had the privilege to see and hear. I'm talking about Bruce and the E Street Band, not my accomplished pals!

How we found ourselves in the thick of it all was through the kindness and generosity of my friend, Soozie Tyrell, http://www.soozietyrell.com/ the violinist and vocalist for the E Street Band.

[ ASIDE: Soozie Tyrell's wonderful album "White Lines" is available on her web site and even has a song about a saint, called "Ste. Genevieve." It is a hauntingly beautiful song about a river that floods and how the people are affected who live nearby, choosing to endure the hardship of loss rather than just walk away from the land they call "home." In other words, in 2003, Soozie Tyrell prophetically wrote an anthem of inspiration for all the people who lost their homes and livelihood in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing flood of the great city of New Orleans, Louisiana in August, 2005.]

Now, back to our story.... Thanks to Huffington Post www.HuffingtonPost.com/holly-cara-price writer Holly Cara Price's marvellously meticulous maneuvering through the maze of Giants Stadium's procedures and precautions, we were able to get our tickets and passes to enter the Stadium. My briefcase of hand-painted red and black http://www.saintsforsinners.com/ Holy Spirit medallions, however, was not so lucky: "NO BAGS ALLOWED!" That was a huge disappointment because the 3 readers of this Blog (you know, me, myself, and I) are all pretty much very "into" hand-painted saint medallions from http://www.saintsforsinners.com/ .

I had decided to pass out Holy Spirit medals because the Holy Spirit seems to me, to represent rebirth and renewal. And, although Giants Stadium will be hit by the wrecking ball soon, its Spirit will always endure, very much like a "spirit in the night (all night)." We painted them all red and black because they looked great and it was not too difficult to get dozens of them ready to be given away.

Fortunately, Holly once again made things work out and like a twinkle of the nose of "Samantha" on "Bewitched," Holly fixed everything and Holly, Roy Bittan's wife Susie, and I walked back into the stadium with my briefcase filled with medallions. As we walked, we looked at the Holy Spirit medals and also at the Backstage Passes and we all sort of stopped dead in our tracks... Both the medals I brought from New Orleans and the Backstage Passes were designed almost identically in red and black with a bird in the middle! That was like a message from the Holy Spirit Himself! It was time to soar high and have some fun!

Since Rick and I are New Orleanians, the first place we dragged Rob and Vanessa to, was, yes..., the bar! My friend Rob and Rick noted that a guy named Pat Riley was a few feet away. (This "Riley" guy is apparently involved with the sport of basketball.) E Street Guitarist Nils Lofgren was getting mobbed and patiently endured having his picture taken approximately 3 million times, it seemed. After we got our drinks, it was time to investigate our surroundings.

Across the hall was the swanky dining area for the crew and we soon found out that our triangular red and black passes with the bird in the middle allowed us entry. It was there that I had the pleasure of officially meeting E Street Keyboarder Charlie Giordano. Charlie became a member of the E Street Band after the untimely passing of musician Danny Federeci. http://www.dannyfund.org/ When I introduced myself as Rob from SaintsforSinners in New Orleans, Charlie instinctively reached into his shirt to show me he was still wearing the Saint Joseph medal he bought many months ago. Of course, it was old and tired looking to me, but it obviously still had its power since it has stayed on Charlie for a very long time. [ MEMO TO SELF: Paint a new Saint Joseph medal for Charlie! ]

While we were having a snack, Rick got kind of wispy because three feet away from him was BravoTV's www.Bravotv.com/top-chef Top Chef Tom Colicchio. That's Rick's favorite show! A short while later, Rick found his courage (it may have been Jack Daniels who found it?) and had a friendly chat with him and their photos taken together. After meeting Tom Colicchio, I fully understand the meaning of the phrase "piercing blue eyes."

Later, we met with Soozie, Susie, and Holly for photos and I gave Soozie medals for the band. Unfortunately, I goofed with the packaging and a lot of them got stuck together. So, a lesson was learned and next time I'm doing a distribution (like I do every year on Mardi Gras Day, for instance), the medals and chains will be boxed, like back-in-day when I gave the medal packages to Patti Scialfa at the 2006 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Reviewing Bruce's last performance at Giants Stadium seems like a task I am not eloquent enough to describe. It was pure magic from start to finish. The crowd was always involved and I hope to add some fantastic streaming video of the crowd, if I can just figure out how to do that! I'll also be adding lots of photos, either to the Blog, the http://www.saintsforsinners.com/ web site, or both (probably both). It was a fantastic night and I'm grateful to Soozie, Holly, Charlie, Susie and all the others who who made it such a special and memorable time for us. Oh, what a night!

Saint Martin of Tours, Patron of Winemakers, Praises European Commission Decision About Rose'

Saint Martin of Tours, (featured left, and at www.SaintsforSinners.com/saint-martin-of-tours-medal-story.html the Patron of Winemeakers, Grape Growers, Wine Lovers, and New Orleans' "Tales of the Cocktail," has weighed in on the Rose' Wine debate that has rollicked Europe recently. Speaking in Bruges, a small town outside of Brussels, Belguim, Martin declared that "any effort to change the ingredients used in the making of Rose' wine will be rigorously opposed. Rose' is not red wine and Rose' is not white wine and never the three shall meet."

It appears the European Commission and Agricultural Commissioner, Mariann Fisher Boel, have heeded the warning from Saint Martin of Tours. Boel was quoted in the New York Times, on June 9, 2009, stating that the group has "abandoned the proposed changes" that would have signaled end of the traditional creation of Rose' and allow the blending of red and white wines to make Rose'. Before the end of the blending ban was proposed, Rose' had always been made by taking red grapes, crushing them, and then leaving them alone to ferment. Their colorness would disippate because the skin pigments would create a wonderful hue of pink, and voila, Rose'.

According to The New York Times, a spokesman for the European Commission was quoted as saying there had been lots of "ooh-la-la-ing" about the potential change in the recipe for Rose', especially by the French Winemakers. And across the pond, the American singer Billy Joel was no doubt pleased that there will remain 3 choices with regard to wine: "A bottle of white, a bottle of red, perhaps a bottle of Rose' instead" since those are the lyrics in "Italian Restaurant," one of the many hits from his classic masterpiece, "The Stranger." We tried to get a quote from Rock and Roller Bruce Springsteen to see what he thought, especially since he is in Europe on Tour, but he was not available. The line from his song "Spirits in the Night" should adequately explain his postion though, "I got a bottle of Rose' so let's try it."

Bruce Springsteen's Magical October Tour Begins!

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will offically begin their tour of the United States and Europe in just a few days! Bruce's new album, entitled, "Magic" has been reviewed by Rolling Stone Magazine and received 5 stars. * * * * * We can't wait to buy a copy.

We have not seen Bruce Sprngsteen perform live since he played at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in April, 2006, in New Orleans. In the photo above he is wearing our hand-painted Saint Peter medal during his performance. Although the photo of the hand-painted saint Paul medal on the right is not Saint Peter, it still the same medal Bruce wore because if I could turn the picture, you would see that saint Peter is on other side.

There was a great article about Bruce Springsteen and the tour and the album, which comes out on October 2, 2007, in today's New York Times by A. O. Scott. Bruce made some comments about how the country needs to get back on track after 9/11 and the flood of the Deep South in August, '05. He said there is a long walk ahead for America and it seemed like he was talking about New Orleans, in a way, since we have been on a long road, or walk, toward recovery and one of our recovery programs is actually called "Road Home."

Bruce helped us heal when he performed at Jazz Fest and we hope he can offer some catharsis to the rest of the nation during his tour. The wars and the flood have been hard for all of us to endure. We wish Bruce Springsteen, his wife, Patti Scialfa, and all the members of The E Street band all the best throughout their tour and will be excited to see and hear them again, somewhere down the road. We know that Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, will be looking after Bruce and the band troughout their travels. With with every breath they take and every step they make, he'll be watching ....