(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on September 22, 2021)

 

Actually, this was one of five different concerts under the official banner of “The MUSE Concerts For a Non-Nuclear Future”, with MUSE standing for “Musicians United for Safe Energy” in September 1979.

I attended two of them at Madison Square Garden (MSG): 9/22 and 9/23. This post is about 9/22.

The above picture was a full-page ad in the 10/31/81 issue of Record World, which was one of the three main music industry trade publications in the US, along with Billboard and Cash Box.

The Bruce Springsteen picture was the main image on the front cover of the various “No Nukes” video versions that were released.

I took the picture.

I didn’t have a photo pass that night and I wasn’t in the pit or even on the Garden floor. I was given a ticket in the loge – the first ring of seats that surround the floor.

This is my ticket stub in Section 21B and part of the Garden seating plan. Looking at my pictures from that night, I was about even with the third row on the floor (it’s a little hard to tell because of a center stage extension into the orchestra) and a little elevated, which turned out to be somewhat advantageous:

 

Having shot from the Garden pit many times, I was NOT expecting to get anything good from this seat.

Turns out, however, that I took three shots that night that became pretty well-known. Let’s start with the Bruce cover image.

 

The first video version that I became aware of was not a VHS tape or LaserDisc, but rather something most people aren’t very familiar with. It’s called a CED, which stands for “Capacitance Electronic Disc”. Its player uses a needle/stylus and it plays like a vinyl album:

 

Its case is about a half-inch wider and almost 2 inches taller than that of an LP. I never even knew how to open it – never having had a CED player, I had no reason to – until last week when I found a YouTube video that showed me how.

First, you have to take a pen – with its point out – and push aside some hidden little plastic latch in the top while pushing/pulling (and holding up) that side of the top, which is the inner tray:

 

While you’re holding all this stuff open (and up), you have to do the same thing on the other side. Now the tray and disc will slide out:

 

You can look up the CED’s short history, if you’re so inclined. Essentially, VHS tapes wiped them out before they ever gained a foothold in the video market.

Somewhere around the year 2000, I bought a couple of the No Nukes CEDs – quite cheaply ($5?) – because they had something that all the other video formats lacked:

1. MY PHOTO CREDIT! NONE of the subsequent versions bothered to put any photographer credits on them – an insult to ALL of us – so here’s what the CED showed on the back:

2. See the striped floor that Bruce is standing on? Getting than on film was one advantage of being slightly elevated, but it’s darkened on subsequent video versions (look at the floor in the Record World ad).

Note: the No Nukes CEDs don’t appear to be very cheap now. As I type this, there’s ONE on eBay. With shipping, it’ll set you back 40 bucks.

 

These are a couple of slightly beat-up VHS tapes I have that I must have bought on eBay:

 

My laser disc is from England, where they think that Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt are left-handed guitarists:

How could such STUPID mistakes be made………..ESPECIALLY since so many previous versions that had it right could have just simply been copied?

 

Speaking of stupid, I just found a BRAND NEW VHS tape from the US that someone is selling on eBay for $175.99 (marked down from $199.99!). Whoever the art director was, he/she elevated the stupidity level by also reversing the James Taylor/Carly Simon picture:

So 60% of all pictures on this “brand new” VHS box are backwards! Yeah – that’s worth almost 200 bucks!

 

So much for my No Nukes cover shot. You might be surprised to know that it was originally taken as a horizontal photo that included Steve and Roy. If you’d like to see that, go to https://bobleafe.com/ and look at the Springsteen listing.

 

Let’s move on to the next sort-of-well-known photo from that night:

Here’s the whole story from my site:

 

Lynn Goldsmith and Bruce Springsteen

M.U.S.E. Concerts (No Nukes) – Madison Square Garden, NYC 1979

Around the time of the ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’ album, Lynn, a MAJOR music photographer, was Bruce’s girlfriend and tour photographer. After their breakup, Bruce supposedly had an agreement with her that she was not to photograph him anymore.

During his No Nukes performance, Bruce spots something, suddenly leaves the stage and plucks secretly-shooting Lynn from the 12th row, escorts her up onto the stage, where someone else escorts her down the back steps and out the door.

While this is occurring, everyone is standing around, going ‘Who IS that’? I knew who it was and fired away. This shot was published in a Springsteen book.

NOTE – April 19, 2011:

I have received an email from Lynn today that states the following:

“I was not his tour photographer, nor was I asked by Bruce not to be there that night or not to shoot him in his performance.”

This is why I used the word “supposedly” when I wrote this back in 2003.

 

(Did anyone notice #1 Springsteen fan, friend and band confidante Obie Dziedzic [glasses] behind Bruce and next to the guy in the Jethro Tull shirt? We became friendly after I saw her in front at almost every Springsteen show I went to. Miss Obie was a sweet woman who passed away in 2017 at age 65.)

 

Back to Bruce/Lynn: What nobody knows until now is that I took a second shot right after that one, as Bruce led Lynn backstage. There are some smiles and some wonderment on the faces of everyone backstage and in the rear loge.

But there’s ONE face you should look for. It’s between Bruce’s head and the black cables(? – in shadow) on the left. He has blond hair and a toothy grin as he looks at Bruce with his American Girl:

If you look on the right just above RoyGarrySteve, you can see a video guy who HAD to have captured something more interesting than what I have.

 

There’s a lot of interest in this show currently because of an upcoming release of Springsteen’s No Nukes performances (two nights – full shows). What will be in it besides what the original No Nukes movie showed decades ago? Will the Lynn Goldsmith part of it be included? Will another incident that happened that night (and is discussed later on) be in it as well?

 

The next photo I took that night that got a surprising amount of attention shows Clarence Clemons, Roy Bittan, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne and Rosemary Butler:

This would have been a very difficult – if not impossible – shot to get if I was in the pit. The seat location provided the angle. After that, it’s timing: somebody was always blocking somebody else from view. Suddenly, Roy turned and showed his face at the moment that Bruce backed off the mic and Jackson stepped up to it…………CLICK!

The attention came not from publication, but rather from online sources like Pinterest, Tumblr, WorthPoint and GottaHaveRockAndRoll.com. People just re-posted, re-blogged and re-tweeted the pic no end. I have no idea where Worthpoint or GHRnR got the prints to auction and I have zero idea what they went for (I’m not a member of either, so I’m not privy to that information). And GottaHaveRockAndRoll.com gotta get itself a 1979 calendar because they insist that the date was November 22 instead of September 22.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/476466835558936069/

https://thewildandthedarkness.tumblr.com/post/114306563954/bruce-and-the-e-street-band-with-tom-petty

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-bruce-springsteen-photograph-1730831068

https://www.gottahaverockandroll.com/lot-24377.aspx

(Ooops! Looks like that last one didn’t get any bids. Well, at least the estimate looks OK for a little 5×7.)

 

GRAND FINALE

This is not a case of saving the best for last because it’s not the best and – at this point – hasn’t even gotten a single comment from anyone EVER………mainly because – like the second Bruce/Lynn shot above – it’s never been seen before. Yes – this is an exclusive unveiling of a well-known No Nukes moment that you’re the second person to have ever seen (well, one of you is).

It may mean nothing to most of you, but if you’re a Springsteen fanatic, you’re probably aware of the circumstances.

This is the other “incident” that happened that night that some people are curious as to whether it will be included in the new video release. My guess is it won’t – either because someone withheld it or because video cameras weren’t aimed at all of the participants. I hope I’m wrong.

As far as I know, there are NO other photos in existence of this item. I’ve even asked people who are well-versed in Springsteen lore if they have EVER seen a photo of it anywhere. No one has.

In much the same way I got the Bruce/Lynn shot from the side, I got this one too.

Bruce was going to turn 30 the next day and – like everyone else in that position – he was NOT looking forward to it and certainly didn’t want to be reminded of it while performing.

He WAS, however, used to accepting gifts at every show from fans who made it to the front with their offerings, so he stuck out his hand and received a………

CAKE!

 

From https://www.collectorsmusicreviews.com/springsteen-bruce/bruce-springsteen-no-nukes-godfatherecords-gr-615616/:

As Dave Marsh – an American music critic, author and editor – wrote: “Bruce wasn’t thrilled to be turning thirty.”

Springsteen reacted petulantly when a woman in the audience passed him a birthday cake.  He can be heard saying, “don’t remind me,” before throwing the cake back at the woman, eliciting a widespread and clearly audible gasp, and stating that the icing-splattered fans can, “send me the laundry bill.”  As Marsh succinctly concludes, “it wasn’t funny.” 

 

This may be the only pic that shows the cake still in one piece. All I know is that it wasn’t in his hands for more than a few seconds.

Let’s see where this copyrighted photo winds up…………..

 

And the next post is a related result of this post.