Today Bruce Springsteen turns 60. I think the man deserves a word or two of birthday gratitude, so here goes: Thanks, Boss. Thanks for Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River and Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A. and all the other classic albums too numerous to list here. Thanks for that part at the end of “We Are the World” where you trade lines with Stevie Wonder. Thanks for the best minute of High Fidelity. Most of all, thanks for not giving up — for continuing to make vital music, rock out on stage, and speak out for your principles well after you passed the half-century mark.
I grew up knowing Springsteen’s hits as well as any child of the ’80s, and I remained a casual-to-moderate fan throughout the ’90s, but it was only in college that my girlfriend, a true devotee, helped induct me fully into the Cult of Brooooooce. Lucky for me, that was right when he was hitting his stride with the reunited E Street Band. If Springsteen had retired for good by that point, I would have been stuck combing through his amazing catalog of decades-old material. (Not the worst fate in the world by a long shot.) Instead, he was out there as a middle-aged guy doing some of the best work of his career. I’m happy to say he shows no signs of slowing down any time soon now that he’s hit 60.
Next week, I’ll be seeing Springsteen and the E Street Band live in concert yet again, an experience that never gets old, even if the band’s individual members might. Anyone else planning to attend this tour? ‘Til then, join me in sharing your birthday wishes for Bruce Springsteen in the comments below.
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Photo credit: Tony Nelson/Retna Ltd
Mark your calendars if you haven’t already: Tomorrow, Saturday April 18, is 
With April 14′s Moving Forward, former New York Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams returns to his second great passion: jazz guitar. The classically trained instrumentalist called the Music Mix today to chat about his new album, which includes everything from “an introspective, pensive version” of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” featuring spoken vocals from veteran Yankee Stadium announcer Bob Sheppard to a live recording of Williams performing “Glory Days” on stage with Bruce Springsteen, an experience he calls “a dream come true.” Read on after the jump for Williams’ thoughts on the relationship between music and baseball, how his guitar playing used to annoy Yankees team captain Derek Jeter, and whether he’ll ever return to the diamond.
Just before Steve Van Zandt took the stage for a 75-minute speech today at SXSW about the state of the music industry (today’s music is “sucking major moose c—,” he said at one point, to much applause. “Nobody’s buying records? No s—. They suck!”), news broke that Max Weinberg’s son, Jay, will be filling in on drums for any dates on the upcoming Springsteen tour that conflict with Max’s gig on Conan O’Brien’s new show. Afterward, we grabbed Van Zandt, who is hosting 
