In the Beginning... A Hollywood publicist recalls when Bruce Springsteen tickets went for as little as a buckfifty and The Boss got around by hitchhiking.

• Author: Harary, Dan
• Position: ENTERTAINMENT

MY BEST BUDDY Steve Walter (today the owner of the Cutting Room nightclub in New York) and I first saw Bruce Springsteen appear live on stage in early 1972 at the local area Jewish Community Center in Deal, NJ., located just a few blocks from Steve's house. After seeing an orange-colored flyer there promoting an upcoming show by "Bruce Spring-STEIN" for $1.50, Steve and I purchased our tickets out of curiosity--we never had heard of him before. Plus, we assumed since his last name was Jewish, it would be kind of cool to see a fellow "Yehudi" play rock and roll. I'm sure today that misspelled flyer would be a collector's item.

Steve and I sat in the first row of the JCC's auditorium in folding metal chairs. Bruce and his group (not yet called the E Street Band) played incredibly loud. According to Steve's memory, they played Bruce's early, original material, but not yet songs from "Greetings from Asbury Park." The band screeched so loudly I couldn't stand it. I left after maybe four songs. I clearly remember walking home from that show, thinking how bad that music was.

Exactly one year later, Bruce and his band were booked to perform at the Sunshine Inn--the small, now defunct rock concert hall in Asbury Park, NJ., where Steve and I worked as stage managers during our high school years during the early 1970s. While Steve and I spent many hundreds of hours working at The Inn, both with stage crew and stage lighting, I, independently of Steve, also worked occasionally in the front office, answering phones and selling tickets.

I happened to be at The Inn alone when Bruce showed up to rehearse. I was on the phone with someone asking about ticket prices for his two upcoming shows on Feb. 10, 1973 ($3.50 for the 7:30 p.m. performance, and $4.50 for the 10:30 p.m. show), when I heard a knock on the front office door. Finishing my call, I opened the door to see a scraggly-haired, very skinny guy holding a guitar case in one hand and the hand of a pretty brunette wearing purple stockings in the other. Not recognizing the man I'd seen perform on stage one year earlier, I asked, "Are you Bruce Springsteen?" He replied, "Yeah, man, that's me."

We shook hands, but I was more impressed with the purple-colored legs of his girlfriend than with him. I led the pair through the front office and up the short staircase leading to the stage inside the hall. Next, Steve and the rest of Bruce's band members arrived. Together, we all unloaded their truck and carried...