August 22, 2025 • 52 mins
Find out how the Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, helped author Anne Abel overcome her darkest days.
Purchase a copy of High Hopes
Visit Anne Abel's website
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The Booked On Rock Music: “Whoosh” by Crowander / “Last Train North” & “No Mercy” by TrackTribe
Purchase a copy of High Hopes
Visit Anne Abel's website
----------
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The Booked On Rock Store
The Booked On Rock YouTube Channel
Follow The Booked On Rock with Eric Senich:
BLUESKY
TIKTOK
X
Find Your Nearest Independent Bookstore
Contact The Booked On Rock Podcast: thebookedonrockpodcast@gmail.com
The Booked On Rock Music: “Whoosh” by Crowander / “Last Train North” & “No Mercy” by TrackTribe
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On this episode of Booked on Rock. At the age
of sixty and Able decides to quit her job and
go to Australia to see a series of Bruce Springsteen
concerts in hopes that it will pull her out of
a lifelong debilitating depression. What happened? Find out next. We're
totally rock and roll.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I mean, I'll leave you. You're reading, Little Hans says
it's time to rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Roll up, we are totally booked. Everybody. Welcome back to
Booked on Rock, the podcast for those about to read
and rock. I'm Eric Sinich our guest this episode is
An Able, the author of the memoir High Hopes. Thank
you for being here.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
An, thank you so much for having me such.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
An inspirational story. I read the book. I'm a huge
Springsteen fan. I was just saying before we began, not
at all surprised of the effect that Bruce's shows can have.
But your story is it's really It's one of those
or that it's almost hard to believe, but it's true.
Talk about the inspiration behind this trip. What led you
(01:08):
to Australia to see Bruce Springsteen?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Okay, Well, I suffer with severe recurrent depression. I mean,
I am really depressed. I had been impatient in a
psychiatric hospital twice, each time had two regiments of ECT,
and then the summer before my first concert ever at
the age of fifty nine, I had never been to
a concert, but that summer I had my third regiment
(01:32):
of ECT and it had to be aboarded halfway through.
I was outpatient, but it had to be aboarded halfway
through because I was losing my memory. As a result,
I did not remember the July wedding of my son
and daughter in law, so Labor Day Weekend, a couple
months after their wedding, Friday before Labor Day Weekend, my
son daughter, who lived in Boston, called on Friday and said,
(01:55):
we want to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert in Philadelphia.
Can we come and stay with you? And I was thrilled.
I was feeling sorry for us that we didn't have
any fun plans, and then I said of course. Then
he said, a do you want to go with us
to the Bruce Springsteen concert? And I said, why would
I want to go with you to At seven o'clock,
I'm going to sleep. And then he said, well, Ken Kyle,
(02:16):
that's his wife. Bring her wedding dress and show you
since you don't remember the wedding. So they arrived on
Saturday with the wedding gown, and my daughter in law
is a second generation Springsteen fan, and she had just
been catching up on her New Yorker magazine since the
wedding and had read a David Remnick's story about Bruce Springsteen.
And I think she said he was turning sixty three,
(02:38):
so she better see him soon. So I wasn't really
sure what batman, since I'm only three years younger. He
was going to die? Didgiman he was going to retire.
I didn't want to think about it, but so they
came on Saturday. And then the only thing that helps
me with my depression is working out. So Sunday morning,
I got on my bike. I'm listening to the Golden
Oldies my husband put on and then I'm thinking, I
want to go to that concert just to spend time
(02:59):
with my kids. So we went, and as we're sitting there,
since I didn't remember the wedding, they're showing me thousands
and thousands of photographs on their phone. And then suddenly,
as the crowd mysteriously rose in Unison, I rose too,
and up on the screen was the face of a
man with the biggest, kindest smile I had ever seen.
(03:23):
And for the next three plus hours, that man's energy, humanity,
and enthusiasm lifted me. For three plus hours, Bruce Springsteen
made me feel like I had a chance. The following Saturday,
my husband and I went to Chicago to see him
in Wrigley Field. I mean, I didn't understand the words,
but the music it was like it just came. And
(03:45):
we were up on the third tier of the fourtier stadium,
but he was tapping and strumming and singing, and it
just looked like this man didn't want this was where
he wanted to be with me and the other forty
thousand people. It was just wonderful. And for the rest
of the fall, I went to a few more concerts
if I could drive to them. And then a year later,
(04:06):
exactly a year later, thirteen months later, I had been
teaching at the Community College of Philadelphia for five years
and it was great, but this one year I had
the class from hell and one the fifth week of
the semester in October, after having literally one desk too
many thrown at me. I mean, can you imagine these
(04:27):
chair desks being thrown? I just walked out the door.
It was twelve o'clock. I burst out of the building.
The sun is on me, it's warm. I'm looking at
the beautiful foliage, and I thought, I deserve better than this.
I am never coming back here. But as soon as
I was in my car making a U turn, I
was panicking. I was terrified that with my kids grown
(04:49):
and living on office and coasts, and my husband traveling
without the structure and focus of the classroom, I would
fall back into the abyss. I was not doing any
more ect. The Third Regiment had given me atypical job pain.
It took them six months because when you bite down
during when they shock you, they put a plate in
your mouth, but sometimes it just you clench. And I
(05:11):
just wasn't doing it again. I was sixty years old.
I knew myself as well as any but any mental health.
I needed a lifeline, and I needed it fast. And
as I'm merging onto the expressway, I remembered seeing somewhere
that Bruce Springsteen was going to be touring in Australia
in February. This was October, and I thought, that's it.
(05:32):
I will go to Australia and follow the tour. Now
I hate to travel, I hate to be alone. And
remember I hadn't known who this guy was thirteen months ago,
but Bruce Springsteen's concert made me feel hopeful, They made
me feel alive, and they were fun. Until I went
(05:52):
to my first Bruce Springsteen concert, I had never done
the three letter F forort. So I got home that
day and without even taking off my coat, without saying
alone to my dogs, I sat down, googled Australia travel agent,
wrote to the first five who popped up, and the
next day one of them called me, and I just
booked the trip with her. I said, all I want
(06:12):
to do is work out, go to concerts. There were eight,
and write, and I wasn't surprised by the first two.
But I suffered with severe writer's block. And in the
five years i'd been teaching, I had been happy teaching
other people to write. But as I was thinking about
this trip, I get my will to be happy must
have bubbled up and reminded me that I also wanted
(06:35):
to write. So I booked the trip in October and
I just tried, and as soon as I booked it
I was like, this deal was sealed, I was doing it.
And then the voice in my head said, you're doing
what and able you are so pathetic. You have nothing
better to do with your life than chase an aging
arch star across the world. And that just went on.
(06:57):
That voice looped for three months and then but I
just ignored it. But then a month before the trip,
I could no longer ignore that in exactly twenty eight days,
I was going to be on a sixteen hour flight
to the other side of the world alone. It was
January first, and by now I couldn't even remember what
I liked about Bruce Springsteen. So I sat down and
(07:20):
googled him, and I had never watched a YouTube video before,
but it was the first thing on the screen, and
it was Super Bowl two thousand and nine. I clicked
on it, and oh my god, there on a halftime stage,
surrounded by a football field of cheering, clapping fans, Bruce
Springsteen took the mic, leaned into the television camera and said,
(07:42):
is there anybody alive out there? And chills just went
running through me. And I watched that many times that night,
and for the next twenty eight days, I watched that
eleven minute video multiple times a day, and till finally
the dreaded day of departure, I watched it one last
(08:02):
time and went and then I got on the plane
and I was like, oh wow, I did it. And
then the voice in my head said, so what, Anne,
Now You're gonna fly sixteen hours across the world for nothing.
So when the plane took off, when the cabin lights dim,
I took to ambient and knocked myself out. And then
eight hours later I woke up and I was halfway there.
(08:25):
I went into the bathroom and as I was pushing
the paper towel in the bin with one hand and
opening the lavatory door at the other, I glimpsed myself
in the mirror and I turned to look and my
lips were turned up into a smile, and I could
tell that I was excited. And as I studied my
smile and felt my excitement, a sense of awe came
(08:47):
over me and I pictured Bruce Springsteen high above, looking
down and smiling, and I thought, because of this man,
Bruce Springsteen, a man who doesn't even know I exist,
and able to about to land in Melbourne, Australia, and
I just look back in my reflection and I said,
you can do this, you are doing this, and I did.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
And you did when you mentioned that, as anybody alive
out there in the book. That's what I remember so
much about that performance, that Super Bowl halftime performance. And
that's something that he'll every now and then he will
mention that in concert, and it gives you the goosebumps
whenever he does it. He's like a preacher. I know,
he just get he elevates everybody's spirit. When he was
(09:29):
in Connecticut, I live in Connecticut, he came. I've seen
him once. No, this was at the Excel Center is
called now, but at the time Harvard Civic Center. And
this is when he just reunited with this. The e
street bent to this day. I'll never forget the wave
of energy. I was kind of back left and the
crowd gets up, the lights go on. Here comes Bruce.
(09:51):
Crowd gets on their feet and you could feel the
wave of energy coming at you from the people. It
was the most amazing sensation that I've ever felt. And
to see and you're getting the vantage point from what
he's seeing, it is absolutely it's it's like it's like
you're going to a rock and roll church. It's really what,
(10:11):
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
One of my favorite things that he says sometimes is
I can't give you life everlasting, but I can give
you life in this moment. Yes, that's it. That's what
it's like. That's what it is.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Booked on rock podcasts. We'll be back after this.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
When when will patience with the patients? Absence makes the
heart grow fonder?
Speaker 1 (10:36):
What did your husband say? You mentioned that in the book,
you talk about that. What was his response right away?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Well, I came home and after I, you know, wrote
to the travel agents, I called him, told him I
had quit. And he's like, he said, I understand you've
been having a hard time. And he's a professor. You
had a sabbatical that year. And I said, well, will
you go with me? And he said no, I don't
like Bruce Springsteen. I don't like the seats. They're not
good for my back. So I said, okay. Now. A
(11:04):
few months later, in December, a month before my trip,
I was in bed and he was packing for a
trip and I'm watching him. He's like such a professional packer.
And then I realized this. My husband would do anything
for me, really anything. He just anything he could do
to make my life a little bit better. But yet,
So I'm sitting there watching him pack, and I'm thinking,
(11:25):
but why isn't he going with me? So I stood up,
I went over to him, and I just looked up
at him and I said, you would do anything for me,
but you won't go with me to Australia. And he's
taller than I am, and he looked down and there
was a split second and he said, okay, I'll go.
And I just stood there staring at him, and as
(11:45):
you know, neither of us moved a muscle. It was
probably like a second, and I was imagining us running
from one airport to another and him not being able
to do his work and his not being happy, and
I just thought, I am going to have enough trouble
taking care of myself. I don't need to be worrying
about him. And I just said that's fine, I'll go myself.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And sure enough you did. Yeah. Yeah. And there's great
stories that are throughout this major story about going to
see Springsteen in Australia, which one example is a Springsteen
fan in New Jersey. There was a snowstorm right and
there was a Springsteen fan there who worked at the
airline who helped you out.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Yeah, this is great. Now. I hate last days of things.
So I was leaving on a Saturday. So Friday my
son called. Used to call it the Cabin of Sorrow,
like the day before he'd go back to school and
we'd all because tomorrow at this time we won't be together.
So I hate those Fridays, but I think less. Thursday,
a friend called me and said, an, there's a snowstorm.
I was supposed to leave on Saturday and go out
(12:44):
to LA and fly to Australia from there, and she
cashed it. And there's a snowstorm coming. You've got it.
You've got to go out a day earlier. And I
just I didn't want to go on this trip, but
I had to go on this trip and no snowstorm
was going to stop me. And I ran to call
the US air and I told her that you know this,
because well we don't show any weather, we'll have to
change charge you a change fee and I and I
(13:07):
said fine, And then as she's clicking away, I don't know,
I just started talking. I said, Oh, I'm going to
see Bruce Springsteen and she goes, oh, really, my sister
wants some and then we started talking about it and
I said, She said, yeah, he's really amazing. And I said,
I know I wouldn't be doing this trip if you weren't.
And she said, just a minute, I'll put you on hold.
(13:29):
I didn't know what she was doing. And then a
minute or two later she comes back and she said,
my manager is also a Springsteen fan. We're going to
wave weather Fee And I still get chills remembering that.
And I felt like there and I said after where
she was? She was in Texas, her sister was in
New Jersey, and there I was in Philadelphine. I just
(13:50):
said by by saying Bruce Springsteen, I had become a
link in a chain from Philadelphia to New Jersey to Texas.
And it was just one. And this happened on a plane.
When I got on, the flight attendant asked me where
why I was going. And I have to tell you
I was so embarrassed to tell people what I was doing. Yeah,
friends rolled their eyes at me. They you know, it
(14:12):
must be so nice to be able to just go,
you know, off to Australia. So the flight attendant and
she said, what are you doing? Why are you coming
to Australia. So I kind of winced and told her
and she said, oh my, you're so courageous. And later
one of her colleagues came over. But that was part
of what helped me. I didn't go on this trip
to change. I just went for structure and focused. But
(14:34):
I I came home a different person. And a part
of it was the kindness of strangers that I met
along the way who just looked at me a different way,
different way than people at home had been looking at me.
And I would force myself to step outside of myself
and try to see me Pete. These strangers were describing
(14:56):
And at.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
The hotel you met members of the band. You also
met the longtime manager, Bruce's longtime manager, Barbara Carr. And
this is a story that's in the book that is
also inspirational. It's about a song. It's a it's a
little known Springsteen song, but if you're a hardcore fan
who I am, I know the song should I Fall Behind,
which is from nineteen ninety two. It's an album Lucky Town,
(15:18):
and it's a beautiful song. And this one he played
in concert and it's a song you've never heard before,
but you later found out that there was a story
behind that song regarding Barbara Carr. Can you share that?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, So I don't know if I should tell the
so I'm standing. I ended up staying in the same
hotels as Bruce Springsteen and much of the band, and
at my first my first day there, I had heard
and I'm an inveterate fly on the wall, that is
my favorite thing to do. But I'd never been a
fly on the wall an a list hall. But I'm
(15:53):
standing there. I heard two people behind me talking, a
woman sounded like she was about my age, and then
a younger man, and then he left, and I kind
of had a feeling maybe they were he was part
of the band, so I turned around. We started talking.
Finally I asked her who she was, and she said
Barbara Carr. Didn't mean anything, and then she said, well,
I've been Bruce Springsteen's manager for however many years it was,
(16:17):
and someone had given me a book before I went
on my trip, so I looked her up, and the
second time I found out it was just really tragic.
Her daughter had died of sarcoma, a rare cancer, at
the age of twenty one, and I read that she
was engaged to be married and Bruce Springsteen and his
(16:38):
wife were going to play If I should fall behind
at the wedding, but I read it instead. They played
it at the funeral. They sang it at the funeral.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Our guest this episode is Anne Abel. She's the author
of the memoir High Hopes. And there was a moment
when Bruce walked by you after the first show and
you decided not to try to get his attention, touch him,
get a selfie with him. I'm curious as to why
did you feel like it was kind of like a
Wizard of Oz moment, like maybe he's not going to
be what exactly imagine?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yes, there were two reasons. The first tid I thought
I was this really cool person and not going to
go chase after. But the first the first day I
was in Adaie before my first concert, I'm sitting in
the lobby and first these guys came out of the elevator,
all dressed in black, and I went running and I
thought it was really cool that I was just going
to watch. But the minute I saw these bann people
(17:30):
went running up. I said, oh, are you part of
the e Street fan? And they laughed and in an
Italian acts and said, oh no, we're not, you know.
So I went and sat down, and then Tomarello came
Jake Clement, and I just went I went running over.
You know, there was nothing cool about me with my
cell phone, you know, take a picture. And then I
had a bag that's and Tomarello was really He said, okay,
(17:52):
but I'm in a real rush. So I said, okay,
but I have to go get my bag. It had
someone had given me iHeart Bruce Springsteen. I said, I
have to go get my bag. So I took these pictures.
And then the concierge that was you know, he had
been helping me with my devices and he was He said, oh,
have you never met Bruce Springsteen. I said, oh no.
And then after meeting these people, I just went over
(18:14):
to his the concierge team. I said, I would don't
even want to meet Bruce Springsteen. First of all, I
don't know how would I say in one minute all
that this man has done to me. So that was
the first reason I didn't know what I would say.
And the second reason was I don't know what kind
of man Bruce Springsteen is in private, but I know
what kind of person. I think he is on stage,
(18:36):
you know, and for me, he's a magician. He's up
there and he casts a spell on me, which for
a depressed person like me to be able to sustain
this kind of energy and enthusiasm about someone and it's
just phenomenal. So I did not want to go past
(18:56):
what I saw on stage and maybe find out, like
Darthy in The Wizard of Oz, that he was this
crimudgeon guy and I'd be stuck there in Australia following
some guy who wasn't very nice, and that would have
really put a damper on me. But so that was
why I did not want to meet him.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
There's another great story regarding an eighty year old man
who's at one of the shows with his son. He
had never been to a Bruce show. His son was
a huge fan, and something's off with Bruce. At the
start of the show, his energy is off, but by
show's end, that eighty year old went from being disappointed
to having the experience of a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
That was one of my favorite stories in the book,
because I got there, you know, and I always wanted,
you know, I don't know anyone I turned to, whoever,
have you ever been to a Bruce Swingstein show. No,
Oh my god, you're and he said his son had
brought him here. Is said, okay, if I tell you this.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Story, Oh yeah, absolutely, he said.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
My son is a birthday president. I think he said.
I said, oh, you're in for a treat. And this
was my third in my third, second or third concert
in Australia. I was, by no means means a Bruce
Springsteen expert. But he comes on and I'm just and
I had had a really bad experience right before that,
so I wasn't in a very good state of mind either.
(20:15):
So I'm watching him and listening to him, and I'm
just thinking, WHOA. Either I'm projecting or there's something off
about him. And then he just sat down on the
stage and he just starts rambling and rambling. And one
thing he says is if you had told me an
hour ago that I was going to be here now,
I wouldn't have believed you. And he's talking about aging
(20:35):
and death and you know, televisions from when he was
eight years old. And I look at the man next
to me and he just shakes his head and says,
this is not impressive. And then we're just so I
usually stand at you know, concerts, but I sat down.
Even the people in the pit were just kind of calm.
You know. It's just like we were all just there
(20:57):
with him. And my feeling about it was that we've
all been you know, if we weren't there, then we've
all been where Bruce Springsteen was, and we're all just
there and we're just not really sure. And then he
starts talking a little faster and a little faster, and
then the energy and before you know it, everybody is
just up and dancing, and you know, it was just
(21:18):
wild and it was like we had all hit rock
bottom with him, and then he just brought us, like
triple time to the top. And at the end of
the concert, I looked at this man and he said,
this was an experience of a lifetime. But you know,
it's like it's like he you know, sometimes he's like
a hypnotist. You know, he had us all kind of hypnotized.
(21:40):
He's talking, we're there with him, and we're completely connected.
And then as he starts to rise, and as he
starts to talk faster, we rise too. It was wonder
It was really wonderful.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
He's got such a command over the audience. Yeah, booked
on rock podcasts, We'll be back after.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
This patience boys own good things to those who wait.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
You're right about each concert being completely different. Mostly they
varied in the way Bruce had released his energy exactly.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
I actually there's a passage in the book at the
end that I love. I was driving on the way
to my eighth and last concert. I was going home
the next day. I was pretty excited about going home
and I'm doing and there had been seven great concerts,
so I'm thinking, all right, it's an eighth concert. Not
every concert has to be a blockbuster. You know, if
(22:34):
you're if you're a super baseball player, no one expects
you to hit a Grand Slam or a home run
every game. You can't expect and expect an extraordinary performer
like Bruce Einstein to hit the equivalent of a So
so I get to the concert. I'm sitting there thinking
about what I'm going to have for dinner after, what
(22:55):
I'm going to do the next morning, and all of
a sudden, you know, he appears on stage, and in
that moment, you know, it's like magic. It's and that
that I mean, I actually have it right here? Would
would I be able to.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Oh, please please do Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
I mean it's a couple pages.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
By all means, I'm enjoying this. I am loving this
as a Bruce fan.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
All right, So this is going to the eighth concert.
Some of this I just said. Each concert had been
completely different. Mostly they buried in the way Springsteen released
his energy. Some he'd begun in high gear, others he'd
worked his way up. Sometimes he'd gone up and down.
Always he delivered heartwarming, soul, soothing, goose bump moments, but
(23:40):
each time he'd done it in a different way. Writing
to the concert that night, I told myself there could
only be a finite number of ways Bruce Springsteen and
the EA Street Band could present and perform the high
Hopes Tor songs. I didn't think they would be able
to add a new or novel twist to this final
concert in Australia. I knew, of course, that Springsteen wasn't
going to come out on stage and mechanically run through
(24:02):
a setlist of songs from the album mixed with sin
requests from the audience. I knew he would make sure
that all twelve thousand of us in the audience had
a good time. But I had never heard of an
extraordinary baseball player hitting a Grand Slam or even a
home run every time he went to bat. Bruce Springsteen
wasn't an extraordinary performer, but I didn't expect him to
(24:23):
hit a musical Grand Slam or even a musical home
run every time he took to the stage. Not every
night had to be spellbinding. But that's the thing about magic,
the thing about Bruce Springsteen. One moment, you're sitting with
your feet on the ground, your button, your chair, thinking
about what you're going to eat after the concert, what
you're going to do the next morning. Then Bruce Springsteen
(24:46):
appears on stage, and when he does, you jump to
your feet, You clap, you dance, you jump, you sway,
goosebumps pop up all over you. You're not thinking about
the past moment, You're not thinking about the next one.
You're simply and holy in each and every moment, following
every footstep, every heeltap, every strum, every word, every muscle,
(25:09):
ripple of the man with the smile sometimes be a typic,
sometimes mischievous, sometimes mournful, sometimes so full. As you follow
this man with a smile, as he anchors you to
each moment he is also anchoring himself to you. You
do not feel alone. Feelings blossom from deep down within you.
(25:31):
Some make you gleeful, some make you sorrowful, some make
you wondrous. You don't think about why you feel these ways.
It doesn't occur to you to break out of the
moment to try to understand what's happening to you. It's
enough that you are in this place, at this time,
with this man, with these people, ensconced in this stealing.
(25:52):
You do not think that you have been cast under
a magnificent spell, A spell that awakens every single cell
in your body, a spell that fills every single cell
in your body with pulsating light. You are not thinking
about feeling alive. You are alive. You are alive on
the here and now. You are alive with this man,
(26:14):
with these people. You want for nothing, you have it all.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
That's a Bruce Springsteen concert.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
And Bruce himself has talked about his battles with depression,
so I always wonder he's getting energy off of the audience.
He's getting that same energy that the audience is getting
off of him.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Oh, it's amazing, It's just amazing. And I remember one
night in Australia, he came out on stage. I think
it was going into Spirit in the night. He goes
back and forth across the stage saying, over and over,
how do you get through the day? How do you
get through the day and stay alive inside? And watching
(26:56):
him go back and forth, I thought, Bruce Springsteen can
say this to an arena full of fans. I must
not be the only one feeling like this. It's okay
to struggle, It's okay to struggle and to try and
try again. I mean, he was validated. And I'm not
saying every song was depressed, you know about depression, but
those like really resonated with me. Or I had never
(27:19):
I mean I had never had fun, I say, done
the three letter f wort until I went to my
first Bruce Springsteen concert. But one night in Australia he
was doing tenth Avenue Freeze Out and I was just
learning the words as I was going to these concerts,
and then I suddenly heard the words and it was
it's all right to have a good time. And the
minute I heard that, I thought, it's one hundred percent okay,
(27:43):
it's okay for me to have fun. Finally, after sixty years.
I remember the moment. It was just like, yeah, it's
okay for me to have fun podcasts.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
We'll be back after this.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I think I need a break, a little break.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Okay, Hey guys, thanks so much for checking out the
Booked on Rock podcast. If you've just found the podcast, welcome.
If you've been listening, thank you so much for your support,
and make sure you tell a friend, a family member,
share on social media and let people know about Booked
on Rock. And if you do like the podcast, make
sure you subscribe give a five star review. Wherever you
(28:22):
listen to the Booked on Rock podcast, run Amazon, Apple, iHeart, Spotify, Spreaker,
tune in, and on YouTube music. You can check out
the full episodes on video, along with video highlights from
episodes on the Booked on Rock YouTube channel. Find it
at Booked on Rock. Thanks again for listening. Now back
to the show and talk about tenth Avenue Freeze out me.
(28:44):
There are so many great Bruce songs. I'm curious as
to what are the songs that you love, especially since
writing the books, since seeing him live. Because you talked
about waiting on a sunny day being one, high hopes
being another. We talked about it if I should fall behind.
What are some of the songs?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Well, actually, I'm just putting the audio book together, and
they wanted to know what song I wanted for the
intro and outdrow and I didn't even have to think.
I said dream Baby Dream, and I know it's not
his song, but he does the cover and I will
tell you. In Sydney he did a solo encore of
dream Baby Dream, and growing up I had never been
allowed to dream. I never even thought about it. I
(29:21):
was so busy trying to do everything I was told
to do then I never thought about what I might
want to do or be. As a matter of fact,
I was once seted John Oliver in the front rope
of John Oliver Show and he pointed at me, spotlight
it all and said what did you dream about as
a kid? And I just nodded and he moved on.
I didn't want to ruin his show, But that night
in Sydney, watching Bruce Ringstein saying dream Baby Dream, I
(29:45):
felt as if he were imploring himself to dream. And
the music filled me and lifted me, and that night
I floated out of the arena feeling as if I
could dream and it didn't happen right away, but I
believe that once you feel something, it's easier to recreate it.
And that was just such. That was such a profound
(30:08):
moment for me, just watching him and just feeling like
he was telling himself to do this and the music
and it's hard to put it into words, but it
just makes that music, it just makes I think, makes
you feel like dreaming.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Another cover song he did the Beg Staying Alive. Yeah,
this is another good one too. Let's talk about this one. Yeah.
Then he went into his classic Spirit in the Night.
But you're right about how you felt a spirit come
over here.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, I mean even if you don't, even before I
understood the words the music that you know his the
music just really went into me. And my husband is
very linear when we linear, so he needs to under
he needs to know the lyrics. He needs to understand
(30:57):
the lyrics to like the song where I just take
the music and I hear it with you. Yeah, then
you know the lyrics come.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
After that, plus the emotion he puts into his vocals
in the studio but also live. I mean I was
about eighteen or nineteen in college when I really got
into Bruce and just felt you just felt that energy
coming through just in the studio recordings. But I always
felt like he's there's a there's a part of us
in him and vice versa. He's just he's a regular guy,
(31:27):
came from New Jersey, didn't have a whole lot of money,
went through difficult times with his dad, was tough on him,
you know. He just had a regular life. And for
my brother in law had the Live seventy five to
eighty five box set which I borrowed for several years.
I didn't give it back until years later, and that
(31:48):
really captured the energy of Bruce Live. And that's where
he's That's where he's meant to be, and I think
he could keep going. I mean he is now. Let's
see how old would he be now?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
I know because my book's coming on in his seventy
sixth birthday in September.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Yes, seventy six, so he is almost seventy six, and
he really is still bringing it. I think he's playing
upwards of three hours every night. I don't know how
much longer he can do it, but if anybody can
do it into their eighties, it's going to be him.
And if Bob Dylan is still out there doing it
and he still loves me. Yagger, Mick Jagger, I mean
they love doing it. He's clearly not doing it for
(32:25):
the money. He doesn't have to do it. He just
loves to do. It's what he gets up in the morning,
and that's his purpose. You know, the book doesn't end
with that last show. You share with us your journey.
After you return home, and there's a visit with your
psychiatrist which ends with this wonderful moment. You told them
all about your trip, and after forty five minutes excitedly
(32:48):
sharing your experience, he holds out a prescription for a
sedative and waits for you to take it. What was
your response, Well.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
First of all, I didn't want to tell him that.
He kept egging me on, so and I'm a what
can I say. I'm a storyteller at heart, So I
started telling him a story and then it went on
and anyhow, then he when I finished its time, Yeah,
he hands me this prescription for a sedator and I
just looked at him, and I stood up and put
my bag on my arm, and I said, I did
(33:17):
not go all the way to Australia to come back
to West Philadelphia and be sedated, and I walked out
the door and never went back. And I will tell
you I actually, as I said, he didn't go on
this trip to change. And the book kind of ends
shortly after I get back. But I came home a
different person. It was the first time in my life
(33:39):
I had a positive ball of energy. And it was
the first time in my life I had a story
about me that I was proud of. I had been
a writer. I mean I had writer's block when it
came to writing about me. You know. I worked, you know,
as a freelancer. And if an editor said write five
thousand words on that tree in the backyard, I have
that in a day. But if I looked at the
(34:00):
tree and said, oh gee, I'd like to write about that,
I'd be under the desk in five minutes. But I
came home I knew I had one story to tell.
And then I got my husband to move to Chicago.
He was having trouble. He's a professor at WART and
he'd been feeling unappreciated. We went there and it was January.
It's eight degrees. I didn't know what I was going
(34:20):
to do there. And the first day, my dog walker
came in. I said, what do you do when you're
not walking dogs? And she said, well, I host a
storytelling open mic. There's a string of them across the city,
and I tell stories at the Moth. I had never
heard of storytelling. I had never heard of the Moth,
but I knew I had one story to tell. And
I had never been in front of a mic. I
(34:41):
had never stood on a stage. But I started going
to these open mics and trying to tell the story.
And then a friend made me go with them to
the mob and we got there, he said, well, you
have to get put your name in to tell a story.
I was terrified, but I got called. I went up,
I stumbled along the way as I did, and I
won that night's story Slam, and people had so many
(35:04):
questions they wanted to know more that ultimately inspired me
to write. I mean, I had to really fight through
writer's block to write this story high hopes, and I
was writing it an editor, an editor had it was
taking so long. It was during the lockdown, the COVID lockdown,
(35:25):
And I had once had this heart, this rescue dog
named Milo that I'd gotten by accident. But I didn't
have the heart to give back, and someone said you
should write about Milo. Write about Milo. I didn't think
I could, but then I found fifteen pages i'd written
many years ago. So I wrote this story Mattie, Milo
and Me, and it seemed like a more straightforward story.
So I'll try to get this out into the world
(35:46):
and then I'll come back and do this Australia story,
which is what happened. So this trip to Australia was
the beginning of a transformation that is continuing today. Twelve
years later, when the age of seventy two, a year ago,
when my first book came out, Maddy Mile and Me.
The publisher said I should go on social media to
(36:07):
promote it. And all I knew about social media was
someone that put me on Facebook fifteen years ago. But
another now by now I moved to New York City.
That was all part of coming from going to Australia,
just this energy that I got that so I was
now living in New York. I asked my dog walker
in New York. She gave me. She's the name of
(36:28):
this nineteen year old computer science major at CuNi here
in the city, Arceenni, who did social media for her. Well,
I want you to know since November, we've had eleven
twenty one viral videos. I now have almost eight hundred
thousand followers.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
And I'm telling you I went and searched for you.
You know, after reading the book, you have a tremendous following.
I mean, I was blown away. Well this is all
I'm one of your many followers now, by the way, very.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Much, I mean, and I'll tell you what happened. So
you know, I just want to I'm supposed to be
promoting my and i would start telling these stories and
then people would write to me and they'd say, your
voice is so soothing, your voice is calming, You're relatable,
you're interesting you, and I'm like, what are my pat
My father used to tell me every night at the
dinner table, you can listen, but don't speak. And until
(37:20):
the days each of them died four years ago, they
told me not to talk to them because I had
nothing interesting to say. And now I'm getting these comments
and it's like what it was surreal, and it was
as if it were the antidote to my parents' toxicity.
And it's not as if I wake up in the
morning now thinking wow, another great day to tell a
(37:40):
great story. And our city doesn't tell me who's turned
twenty one today. He doesn't tell me ahead of time
when videos were going to do, because when he does,
I say, I can't do it. But I don't feel
like the person these people describe. But I think about
what they say. And then when our SINNI says three
two one go, I turn off my brain and I
do it, and I'll tell you he started. My husband
(38:03):
and I only moved here. All we would do on weekend, well,
we go to doctors. We love the healthcare and the
and the theater here. That's what we did in New York.
But then our city said, okay, we've got to start
going around. He'd looked for viral things in New York
pastries or whatever, and we started. It was he's it's
our kids are living in California. It was great for
(38:25):
us to have this young you know, and he's really
really nice, and we'd be running around doing these things.
And then someone said to me, it looks like you're
having fun doing this, and again, I don't do fun,
but it was it made it more fun knowing people
wanted to see these things, you know, they'd write and say,
oh love these. So then my husband was supposed to
go to Paris a year in September last year to
(38:47):
give a paper, but then he had surgery so he
couldn't go, so he rescheduled for June. And someone said, well,
maybe you in our city should go to Paris and
do posts there, so I who don't like to travel
are safe. And I and my husband went to Paris
and we did. But you know, it's just how my
life has just changed, changed it. And this is what
(39:08):
if you had told me a year ago any of
this was halded. And I'll tell you once the I
started going viral, Maddie Milo and Me is still a
best seller.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
I mean, it's well, I was going to ask you
how much the social media following has helped in getting
the attention out on the books, and I can imagine.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
And last week I posted I did a post on
dream Baby, dream Well. Last week, High Hopes was the
number one Amazon bestseller in the depression category. It was
it was like down there, it was, you know, so
social media, you know it's I don't you know, I
(39:49):
don't know exactly, but you can almost see after the
videos go viral and then you check the Amazon ranking,
you can kind of you know there's there's a connection.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
But sure, look at me.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
I'm seventy two and I go out on the street
and people's young people and so many young people.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Oh on TikTok, so many Oh tiktoks are younger. Yeah,
TikTok's got a younger audience. However, I do use TikTok.
I use TikTok for the podcast because there are there
are people younger that I hope appreciate classic rock. That's
what this podcast is about. And sure enough there are.
I mean, I was at a movie theater the other day.
I was wearing a Beatles Yellow Submarine shirt and this
(40:30):
girl behind the economists for like eighteen nineteen twenty. She goes, oh,
I just saw that movie. I like the Beatles. I said, oh,
what movie? And I'm thinking movie. I mean, this is
a young person. Maybe they were talking about the Disney
documentary on Let It Be. She goes, no, no, Yellow Submarine.
I saw the movie, you know, the movie from the sixties.
Like wow, I said, that's cool, man, I said, you're
preaching to the choir. I mean, the Beatles' music is
(40:52):
timeless and it just you know, generation after generation loved
the music. She goes, oh no, I love the Beatles.
It's like, thank you. So yeah, TikTok is huge for
you as well. I saw the one you had. There
was a video where you at your place in New York,
which I have a fear of heights. I don't know
how you do that. You're walking out on that Wow,
(41:12):
your husband's out there, are taking the dog out. There
was one where you were on the beach. Is it
North Carolina?
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, I saw. It's just but you're just being you.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
That's all I know how to do.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
And that's the lesson here is for people that struggle
with depression. It's never too late. It can happen at
any time. These types of things you just have to
because you said this, this experience has guided you ever since.
So I'm curious as to what you meant by that.
I mean that when that that negative voice starts to
come in, has it changed the way you've You've battled
(41:48):
that voice.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
I still suffer with depression. I don't think I'm not
going to speak for everybody. I don't think depression is
something you really get rid of, especially when it's really sick.
But First of all, my parents died four years ago,
and that helped a lot. But this has helped. One
of the things I always wanted to do is be
part of a conversation. I wanted to be part of
(42:12):
a conversation. And now I feel that, finally I am.
Whether it's about mental health, whether it's about the power
of music. You know, here I am, I'm talking to you.
I'm seventy two, and finally, and I get that. And
I get this from a lot of young people, you know,
they're twenty thirty, forty, and they say, it's so inspiring
(42:33):
to know that if I haven't made it yet, there's
still hope.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
And it's you know, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
And you know, I say, I'm writing my third memoir
and I wanted to be called she tried, and she tried,
and she tried because I do. And I used to
tell my kids, I wanted that written on my tombstone.
But you know, just don't give up. Just try to
figure out what it is that ignites you. And that
way I came back, and this in the book. I
came back from Australia after people there saying, you know,
(43:05):
positive things to me, and I came back to these
friends and a lot of family who they didn't want
to hear. They just wanted to see me as a
depressed person. And I'll tell you I got rid of
every single one of them. My husband and I yesterday
we were married forty seven years, but we had been
married thirty five years. For two years, we were at
each other's throats. He had a lawyer, a divorce lawyer,
(43:27):
because I had this energy, and I think, you know,
I was upsetting the status quo. I got him to
go to Chicago, and but you know it was it was.
It was scary for him because I came home. I mean,
I was still depressed, but I was gonna fight. I
wasn't going to let anyone take this positive ball of
energy that I had worked so hard to get, whether
(43:48):
it was a psychiatrist or my friends who rolled their
eyes at me when I came home. You know, I
just wasn't taking that anymore.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Book on Rock podcast, We'll be back after this.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Patience, Patience, little deer, everything has to be in order.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Find the bookked on Rock website at booked on Rock
dot com. There you can find all the back episodes
of the show, the latest episode in video and audio
links to all of the platforms where you can listen
to the podcast, plus all the social media platforms were
on Blue Sky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and x. Also check
out the booked on Rock blog, find your local independent bookstore,
(44:27):
find out all the latest hot rock book releases, and
before you go, check out the booked on Rock online store.
Pick up some booked on rock merch. It's all at
booked on Rock dot com. I'm sure people listening to
this are wondering, does Bruce know about this book.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
People he has helped. I am just one a billion people.
I have just one of a billion.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Well, it might get back to him, It might get
back to him. Well, there's one last question. The book's
cover there's a picture of a Fender guitar with a
there used to be Bruce's writing on it. Is there
a story behind this?
Speaker 2 (45:02):
Yeah, there's a First of all, you have to know
with me, there's always a story, all right. So, right
after my first concert, someone told me that Bruce Springsteen
there's something called stand Up for Heroes. It's the Bob
Woodward Foundation. I was living in Philadelphia, said, Bruce Springsteen
performs there. So I was in Philadelphia. I was like
(45:23):
a hillbilly. I had never really gone to New York.
I got on the train, I came by myself. I
went to this stand up for heroes and what it was.
Bruce Springsteen came at the end with his guitar, and
now I was so out of it. I didn't even
know Bruce Springsteen ever performed alone. I didn't know he
played the guitar by himself. And then they optioned this
(45:45):
guitar off and I was like, oh my god, like,
what would happen if I spent five thousand dollars on this?
When my husband said, of course, you know, it went
for much more. But then I started going there. I
went for two years. In the third year, they were
auctioning it off and the person got it and then
he's before he said yes, he said, but I want
(46:05):
a tin of your mother's lasagna. So the auctioneer looked
at Bruce spinste he said okay. The next year the
person said I want a tin of your mother's lasignan
and I want to have it at your house, and
Bruce Spinstein said, okay. So I just my husband and
I was like, oh my god, can you imagine like
the conversation I want, I want to go. I have
(46:27):
to have this. I don't care what we have to sell.
And my husband's like, okay, we're not going to talk
about this for a year, but anyhow, and I'm saying, who,
who in the world that's alive would I want to
have a conversation with. So I went back the next year.
I got a really good seat. I was I was
gonna do this. Well, guess what. They weren't doing that anymore.
Instead it was you can you could win the guitar
(46:52):
the guitar. But it came with Becks. It was right
before the River tour that he started up again and
tooth it. So you got back. You got two tickets
to that and a backstage tour with him. So but
I was so pumped that, okay, this is actually a
really good story. So I got so pumped I didn't
care what they were actually So I and another couple
behind me we both bid on it and got it.
(47:15):
So afterwards, they take you this isn't the Madison Square
Garden in the small theater. They take you up to
the cinderblock dressing room to do photo ops and to
meet and to meet Bruce Springsteen. So that's how I
got it. Okay. So we go up there and and
I have on this down coat with a heart with
a which I purposely wore, with a scarf with hearts
(47:37):
on it, and I'm just stilling. And now I had
figured out by now what I would say if I
ever met Bruce Springsteen. And I once had once heard
someone say to Kate Blanchette, I know you must hear
this all the time, but I think you're amazing. So
I thought, if that's what I'm going to say if
I ever meet him. So he comes in, he shakes
my hand, and I tell him I went to Australia,
and then I say that line. Okay. He goes, yeah, okay,
that was a really good tour. Then it's time to
(47:59):
take the photo. Ops and the other couple who had
won the guitar. The woman was in her forties and
she had long blonde hair, and she had dress blue
dress with you know, the cleavage and everything. He did
the pictures with her. Then he does the pictures with
my husband. And remember I'm in a winter coat with
a heart scarf on. So after I said to him,
(48:20):
could you could I after we do these pictures, could
my husband take a photo of you and me. He goes, sure,
so Aunt, my husband stands it with the iPhone, and
then Bruce Springsteen puts his lips on my cheek as
if he's kissing me, and my husband screws it up
and he has to do it longer. So my favorite
story about that is that Bruce Springsteen is the master
(48:42):
of minding the moment. Like if he had put a
kiss on that woman with the dress with the cleavage
like that might who knows what that would do, but
I would, And then I have one. I once in
twenty fourteen, I went to a concert in Albany the
day after Mother's Day and he goes to take car
(49:02):
and someone gave him a letter and it was just
really long, and he goes, oh, fuck, you know, I
don't know. And then he gets to the end and
it says, my mother's a big fan of yours, and
I'm a big fan of my mother's. Would you dance
with my mother? And he goes oh, And then he
takes her up on stage and he accused the band
and they danced to save the last dance for me. Now,
(49:23):
this was the day after Mother's Day. I had had
the worst Mother's day of my life. A lot of
people had had bad mother's days. Either they wished their mother.
You know, everyone had a mother or something, and they
it's up on the big screen. This woman was perfect.
She had you know, mom jeans and little white sneakers
and the perfect little bob and they're doing this dance
(49:44):
and we were all just you know, he just knew
how to connect. And this huge guy who was standing
next to me, he tasks me on the shoulder and
he points up to the big screen to you know, everybody.
You know what I mean. He knew how to connect
with everyone. And that's the same way he kissed me
when I got the guitar, and then I had He
(50:05):
couldn't do dream baby dreams, so he did for the inscription.
So it was waiting on a sunny day.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
Yes, I'm trying to read. My head's turning here to
the side to ann Let's see what is it to
and from? It's hard to read his right now.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
No, I thought I saw a breeze. Must have been
you know, it's one of it's the chorus.
Speaker 1 (50:26):
But look how creative he is with just writing that,
like all the he does A little guitar son the
sun yeah, look at the signature. Yeah, that's so cool.
And that's on the cover of the book, which people
can get on September twenty third.
Speaker 2 (50:44):
Right, reorder it now.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
You can preorder it now so you can go to
all the places usual places like Amazon. You can also
look forward at your nearest bookstore when it's out in September.
You can find your nearest independent bookstore a book rock
dot com. Now, where can people find you online? And
talk about website? Social media?
Speaker 2 (51:06):
Let people know my handle is.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
Whoever's left that doesn't know about your social media?
Speaker 2 (51:13):
It's I guess at. My name is A N N
E S I M A. My middle name A B
E L and able at. So that's what your website is.
An ableauthor dot.
Speaker 1 (51:27):
Com and able author dot com.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
Okay, a B E L not a B L E.
Speaker 1 (51:32):
Gotcha. And I think through the website too, people can
also connect to the social media sites and the book
and ordered the book. So yeah, perfect, And this is
such a great discussion and I'm so happy that we
were able to do this again. I'm a huge Bruce fan,
but you know, I also have struggled. There's so many
I struggle with depression, but more so anxiety. For me,
(51:53):
anxieties just just always right up in my face and
always just it just sometimes it gets to be so
bad that it leads to depression, like you know what,
like that voice in your head like you're not going
to beat this, you know, and you have to fight it.
And for me, music has always been the most powerful
tool to lift you up. And Bruce has been one
of those guys who's been His music has been like
(52:16):
a best friend to me since I was nineteen eighteen,
nineteen years old. And we'll be right until the end.
So that's why I just love this story. It's a
beautiful story. So thank you for being on and thank
you for writing the book.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Thank you for being so accepting about it and understanding
for everything that's it. It's in the books.
On this episode of Booked on Rock. At the age
of sixty and Able decides to quit her job and
go to Australia to see a series of Bruce Springsteen
concerts in hopes that it will pull her out of
a lifelong debilitating depression. What happened? Find out next. We're
totally rock and roll.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I mean, I'll leave you. You're reading, Little Hans says
it's time to rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Roll up, we are totally booked. Everybody. Welcome back to
Booked on Rock, the podcast for those about to read
and rock. I'm Eric Sinich our guest this episode is
An Able, the author of the memoir High Hopes. Thank
you for being here.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
An, thank you so much for having me such.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
An inspirational story. I read the book. I'm a huge
Springsteen fan. I was just saying before we began, not
at all surprised of the effect that Bruce's shows can have.
But your story is it's really It's one of those
or that it's almost hard to believe, but it's true.
Talk about the inspiration behind this trip. What led you
(01:08):
to Australia to see Bruce Springsteen?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Okay, Well, I suffer with severe recurrent depression. I mean,
I am really depressed. I had been impatient in a
psychiatric hospital twice, each time had two regiments of ECT,
and then the summer before my first concert ever at
the age of fifty nine, I had never been to
a concert, but that summer I had my third regiment
(01:32):
of ECT and it had to be aboarded halfway through.
I was outpatient, but it had to be aboarded halfway
through because I was losing my memory. As a result,
I did not remember the July wedding of my son
and daughter in law, so Labor Day Weekend, a couple
months after their wedding, Friday before Labor Day Weekend, my
son daughter, who lived in Boston, called on Friday and said,
(01:55):
we want to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert in Philadelphia.
Can we come and stay with you? And I was thrilled.
I was feeling sorry for us that we didn't have
any fun plans, and then I said of course. Then
he said, a do you want to go with us
to the Bruce Springsteen concert? And I said, why would
I want to go with you to At seven o'clock,
I'm going to sleep. And then he said, well, Ken Kyle,
(02:16):
that's his wife. Bring her wedding dress and show you
since you don't remember the wedding. So they arrived on
Saturday with the wedding gown, and my daughter in law
is a second generation Springsteen fan, and she had just
been catching up on her New Yorker magazine since the
wedding and had read a David Remnick's story about Bruce Springsteen.
And I think she said he was turning sixty three,
(02:38):
so she better see him soon. So I wasn't really
sure what batman, since I'm only three years younger. He
was going to die? Didgiman he was going to retire.
I didn't want to think about it, but so they
came on Saturday. And then the only thing that helps
me with my depression is working out. So Sunday morning,
I got on my bike. I'm listening to the Golden
Oldies my husband put on and then I'm thinking, I
want to go to that concert just to spend time
(02:59):
with my kids. So we went, and as we're sitting there,
since I didn't remember the wedding, they're showing me thousands
and thousands of photographs on their phone. And then suddenly,
as the crowd mysteriously rose in Unison, I rose too,
and up on the screen was the face of a
man with the biggest, kindest smile I had ever seen.
(03:23):
And for the next three plus hours, that man's energy, humanity,
and enthusiasm lifted me. For three plus hours, Bruce Springsteen
made me feel like I had a chance. The following Saturday,
my husband and I went to Chicago to see him
in Wrigley Field. I mean, I didn't understand the words,
but the music it was like it just came. And
(03:45):
we were up on the third tier of the fourtier stadium,
but he was tapping and strumming and singing, and it
just looked like this man didn't want this was where
he wanted to be with me and the other forty
thousand people. It was just wonderful. And for the rest
of the fall, I went to a few more concerts
if I could drive to them. And then a year later,
(04:06):
exactly a year later, thirteen months later, I had been
teaching at the Community College of Philadelphia for five years
and it was great, but this one year I had
the class from hell and one the fifth week of
the semester in October, after having literally one desk too
many thrown at me. I mean, can you imagine these
(04:27):
chair desks being thrown? I just walked out the door.
It was twelve o'clock. I burst out of the building.
The sun is on me, it's warm. I'm looking at
the beautiful foliage, and I thought, I deserve better than this.
I am never coming back here. But as soon as
I was in my car making a U turn, I
was panicking. I was terrified that with my kids grown
(04:49):
and living on office and coasts, and my husband traveling
without the structure and focus of the classroom, I would
fall back into the abyss. I was not doing any
more ect. The Third Regiment had given me atypical job pain.
It took them six months because when you bite down
during when they shock you, they put a plate in
your mouth, but sometimes it just you clench. And I
(05:11):
just wasn't doing it again. I was sixty years old.
I knew myself as well as any but any mental health.
I needed a lifeline, and I needed it fast. And
as I'm merging onto the expressway, I remembered seeing somewhere
that Bruce Springsteen was going to be touring in Australia
in February. This was October, and I thought, that's it.
(05:32):
I will go to Australia and follow the tour. Now
I hate to travel, I hate to be alone. And
remember I hadn't known who this guy was thirteen months ago,
but Bruce Springsteen's concert made me feel hopeful, They made
me feel alive, and they were fun. Until I went
(05:52):
to my first Bruce Springsteen concert, I had never done
the three letter F forort. So I got home that
day and without even taking off my coat, without saying
alone to my dogs, I sat down, googled Australia travel agent,
wrote to the first five who popped up, and the
next day one of them called me, and I just
booked the trip with her. I said, all I want
(06:12):
to do is work out, go to concerts. There were eight,
and write, and I wasn't surprised by the first two.
But I suffered with severe writer's block. And in the
five years i'd been teaching, I had been happy teaching
other people to write. But as I was thinking about
this trip, I get my will to be happy must
have bubbled up and reminded me that I also wanted
(06:35):
to write. So I booked the trip in October and
I just tried, and as soon as I booked it
I was like, this deal was sealed, I was doing it.
And then the voice in my head said, you're doing
what and able you are so pathetic. You have nothing
better to do with your life than chase an aging
arch star across the world. And that just went on.
(06:57):
That voice looped for three months and then but I
just ignored it. But then a month before the trip,
I could no longer ignore that in exactly twenty eight days,
I was going to be on a sixteen hour flight
to the other side of the world alone. It was
January first, and by now I couldn't even remember what
I liked about Bruce Springsteen. So I sat down and
(07:20):
googled him, and I had never watched a YouTube video before,
but it was the first thing on the screen, and
it was Super Bowl two thousand and nine. I clicked
on it, and oh my god, there on a halftime stage,
surrounded by a football field of cheering, clapping fans, Bruce
Springsteen took the mic, leaned into the television camera and said,
(07:42):
is there anybody alive out there? And chills just went
running through me. And I watched that many times that night,
and for the next twenty eight days, I watched that
eleven minute video multiple times a day, and till finally
the dreaded day of departure, I watched it one last
(08:02):
time and went and then I got on the plane
and I was like, oh wow, I did it. And
then the voice in my head said, so what, Anne,
Now You're gonna fly sixteen hours across the world for nothing.
So when the plane took off, when the cabin lights dim,
I took to ambient and knocked myself out. And then
eight hours later I woke up and I was halfway there.
(08:25):
I went into the bathroom and as I was pushing
the paper towel in the bin with one hand and
opening the lavatory door at the other, I glimpsed myself
in the mirror and I turned to look and my
lips were turned up into a smile, and I could
tell that I was excited. And as I studied my
smile and felt my excitement, a sense of awe came
(08:47):
over me and I pictured Bruce Springsteen high above, looking
down and smiling, and I thought, because of this man,
Bruce Springsteen, a man who doesn't even know I exist,
and able to about to land in Melbourne, Australia, and
I just look back in my reflection and I said,
you can do this, you are doing this, and I did.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
And you did when you mentioned that, as anybody alive
out there in the book. That's what I remember so
much about that performance, that Super Bowl halftime performance. And
that's something that he'll every now and then he will
mention that in concert, and it gives you the goosebumps
whenever he does it. He's like a preacher. I know,
he just get he elevates everybody's spirit. When he was
(09:29):
in Connecticut, I live in Connecticut, he came. I've seen
him once. No, this was at the Excel Center is
called now, but at the time Harvard Civic Center. And
this is when he just reunited with this. The e
street bent to this day. I'll never forget the wave
of energy. I was kind of back left and the
crowd gets up, the lights go on. Here comes Bruce.
(09:51):
Crowd gets on their feet and you could feel the
wave of energy coming at you from the people. It
was the most amazing sensation that I've ever felt. And
to see and you're getting the vantage point from what
he's seeing, it is absolutely it's it's like it's like
you're going to a rock and roll church. It's really what,
(10:11):
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
One of my favorite things that he says sometimes is
I can't give you life everlasting, but I can give
you life in this moment. Yes, that's it. That's what
it's like. That's what it is.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Booked on rock podcasts. We'll be back after this.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
When when will patience with the patients? Absence makes the
heart grow fonder?
Speaker 1 (10:36):
What did your husband say? You mentioned that in the book,
you talk about that. What was his response right away?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Well, I came home and after I, you know, wrote
to the travel agents, I called him, told him I
had quit. And he's like, he said, I understand you've
been having a hard time. And he's a professor. You
had a sabbatical that year. And I said, well, will
you go with me? And he said no, I don't
like Bruce Springsteen. I don't like the seats. They're not
good for my back. So I said, okay. Now. A
(11:04):
few months later, in December, a month before my trip,
I was in bed and he was packing for a
trip and I'm watching him. He's like such a professional packer.
And then I realized this. My husband would do anything
for me, really anything. He just anything he could do
to make my life a little bit better. But yet,
So I'm sitting there watching him pack, and I'm thinking,
(11:25):
but why isn't he going with me? So I stood up,
I went over to him, and I just looked up
at him and I said, you would do anything for me,
but you won't go with me to Australia. And he's
taller than I am, and he looked down and there
was a split second and he said, okay, I'll go.
And I just stood there staring at him, and as
(11:45):
you know, neither of us moved a muscle. It was
probably like a second, and I was imagining us running
from one airport to another and him not being able
to do his work and his not being happy, and
I just thought, I am going to have enough trouble
taking care of myself. I don't need to be worrying
about him. And I just said that's fine, I'll go myself.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And sure enough you did. Yeah. Yeah. And there's great
stories that are throughout this major story about going to
see Springsteen in Australia, which one example is a Springsteen
fan in New Jersey. There was a snowstorm right and
there was a Springsteen fan there who worked at the
airline who helped you out.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Yeah, this is great. Now. I hate last days of things.
So I was leaving on a Saturday. So Friday my
son called. Used to call it the Cabin of Sorrow,
like the day before he'd go back to school and
we'd all because tomorrow at this time we won't be together.
So I hate those Fridays, but I think less. Thursday,
a friend called me and said, an, there's a snowstorm.
I was supposed to leave on Saturday and go out
(12:44):
to LA and fly to Australia from there, and she
cashed it. And there's a snowstorm coming. You've got it.
You've got to go out a day earlier. And I
just I didn't want to go on this trip, but
I had to go on this trip and no snowstorm
was going to stop me. And I ran to call
the US air and I told her that you know this,
because well we don't show any weather, we'll have to
change charge you a change fee and I and I
(13:07):
said fine, And then as she's clicking away, I don't know,
I just started talking. I said, Oh, I'm going to
see Bruce Springsteen and she goes, oh, really, my sister
wants some and then we started talking about it and
I said, She said, yeah, he's really amazing. And I said,
I know I wouldn't be doing this trip if you weren't.
And she said, just a minute, I'll put you on hold.
(13:29):
I didn't know what she was doing. And then a
minute or two later she comes back and she said,
my manager is also a Springsteen fan. We're going to
wave weather Fee And I still get chills remembering that.
And I felt like there and I said after where
she was? She was in Texas, her sister was in
New Jersey, and there I was in Philadelphine. I just
(13:50):
said by by saying Bruce Springsteen, I had become a
link in a chain from Philadelphia to New Jersey to Texas.
And it was just one. And this happened on a plane.
When I got on, the flight attendant asked me where
why I was going. And I have to tell you
I was so embarrassed to tell people what I was doing. Yeah,
friends rolled their eyes at me. They you know, it
(14:12):
must be so nice to be able to just go,
you know, off to Australia. So the flight attendant and
she said, what are you doing? Why are you coming
to Australia. So I kind of winced and told her
and she said, oh my, you're so courageous. And later
one of her colleagues came over. But that was part
of what helped me. I didn't go on this trip
to change. I just went for structure and focused. But
(14:34):
I I came home a different person. And a part
of it was the kindness of strangers that I met
along the way who just looked at me a different way,
different way than people at home had been looking at me.
And I would force myself to step outside of myself
and try to see me Pete. These strangers were describing
(14:56):
And at.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
The hotel you met members of the band. You also
met the longtime manager, Bruce's longtime manager, Barbara Carr. And
this is a story that's in the book that is
also inspirational. It's about a song. It's a it's a
little known Springsteen song, but if you're a hardcore fan
who I am, I know the song should I Fall Behind,
which is from nineteen ninety two. It's an album Lucky Town,
(15:18):
and it's a beautiful song. And this one he played
in concert and it's a song you've never heard before,
but you later found out that there was a story
behind that song regarding Barbara Carr. Can you share that?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, So I don't know if I should tell the
so I'm standing. I ended up staying in the same
hotels as Bruce Springsteen and much of the band, and
at my first my first day there, I had heard
and I'm an inveterate fly on the wall, that is
my favorite thing to do. But I'd never been a
fly on the wall an a list hall. But I'm
(15:53):
standing there. I heard two people behind me talking, a
woman sounded like she was about my age, and then
a younger man, and then he left, and I kind
of had a feeling maybe they were he was part
of the band, so I turned around. We started talking.
Finally I asked her who she was, and she said
Barbara Carr. Didn't mean anything, and then she said, well,
I've been Bruce Springsteen's manager for however many years it was,
(16:17):
and someone had given me a book before I went
on my trip, so I looked her up, and the
second time I found out it was just really tragic.
Her daughter had died of sarcoma, a rare cancer, at
the age of twenty one, and I read that she
was engaged to be married and Bruce Springsteen and his
(16:38):
wife were going to play If I should fall behind
at the wedding, but I read it instead. They played
it at the funeral. They sang it at the funeral.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Our guest this episode is Anne Abel. She's the author
of the memoir High Hopes. And there was a moment
when Bruce walked by you after the first show and
you decided not to try to get his attention, touch him,
get a selfie with him. I'm curious as to why
did you feel like it was kind of like a
Wizard of Oz moment, like maybe he's not going to
be what exactly imagine?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yes, there were two reasons. The first tid I thought
I was this really cool person and not going to
go chase after. But the first the first day I
was in Adaie before my first concert, I'm sitting in
the lobby and first these guys came out of the elevator,
all dressed in black, and I went running and I
thought it was really cool that I was just going
to watch. But the minute I saw these bann people
(17:30):
went running up. I said, oh, are you part of
the e Street fan? And they laughed and in an
Italian acts and said, oh no, we're not, you know.
So I went and sat down, and then Tomarello came
Jake Clement, and I just went I went running over.
You know, there was nothing cool about me with my
cell phone, you know, take a picture. And then I
had a bag that's and Tomarello was really He said, okay,
(17:52):
but I'm in a real rush. So I said, okay,
but I have to go get my bag. It had
someone had given me iHeart Bruce Springsteen. I said, I
have to go get my bag. So I took these pictures.
And then the concierge that was you know, he had
been helping me with my devices and he was He said, oh,
have you never met Bruce Springsteen. I said, oh no.
And then after meeting these people, I just went over
(18:14):
to his the concierge team. I said, I would don't
even want to meet Bruce Springsteen. First of all, I
don't know how would I say in one minute all
that this man has done to me. So that was
the first reason I didn't know what I would say.
And the second reason was I don't know what kind
of man Bruce Springsteen is in private, but I know
what kind of person. I think he is on stage,
(18:36):
you know, and for me, he's a magician. He's up
there and he casts a spell on me, which for
a depressed person like me to be able to sustain
this kind of energy and enthusiasm about someone and it's
just phenomenal. So I did not want to go past
(18:56):
what I saw on stage and maybe find out, like
Darthy in The Wizard of Oz, that he was this
crimudgeon guy and I'd be stuck there in Australia following
some guy who wasn't very nice, and that would have
really put a damper on me. But so that was
why I did not want to meet him.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
There's another great story regarding an eighty year old man
who's at one of the shows with his son. He
had never been to a Bruce show. His son was
a huge fan, and something's off with Bruce. At the
start of the show, his energy is off, but by
show's end, that eighty year old went from being disappointed
to having the experience of a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
That was one of my favorite stories in the book,
because I got there, you know, and I always wanted,
you know, I don't know anyone I turned to, whoever,
have you ever been to a Bruce Swingstein show. No,
Oh my god, you're and he said his son had
brought him here. Is said, okay, if I tell you this.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Story, Oh yeah, absolutely, he said.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
My son is a birthday president. I think he said.
I said, oh, you're in for a treat. And this
was my third in my third, second or third concert
in Australia. I was, by no means means a Bruce
Springsteen expert. But he comes on and I'm just and
I had had a really bad experience right before that,
so I wasn't in a very good state of mind either.
(20:15):
So I'm watching him and listening to him, and I'm
just thinking, WHOA. Either I'm projecting or there's something off
about him. And then he just sat down on the
stage and he just starts rambling and rambling. And one
thing he says is if you had told me an
hour ago that I was going to be here now,
I wouldn't have believed you. And he's talking about aging
(20:35):
and death and you know, televisions from when he was
eight years old. And I look at the man next
to me and he just shakes his head and says,
this is not impressive. And then we're just so I
usually stand at you know, concerts, but I sat down.
Even the people in the pit were just kind of calm.
You know. It's just like we were all just there
(20:57):
with him. And my feeling about it was that we've
all been you know, if we weren't there, then we've
all been where Bruce Springsteen was, and we're all just
there and we're just not really sure. And then he
starts talking a little faster and a little faster, and
then the energy and before you know it, everybody is
just up and dancing, and you know, it was just
(21:18):
wild and it was like we had all hit rock
bottom with him, and then he just brought us, like
triple time to the top. And at the end of
the concert, I looked at this man and he said,
this was an experience of a lifetime. But you know,
it's like it's like he you know, sometimes he's like
a hypnotist. You know, he had us all kind of hypnotized.
(21:40):
He's talking, we're there with him, and we're completely connected.
And then as he starts to rise, and as he
starts to talk faster, we rise too. It was wonder
It was really wonderful.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
He's got such a command over the audience. Yeah, booked
on rock podcasts, We'll be back after.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
This patience boys own good things to those who wait.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
You're right about each concert being completely different. Mostly they
varied in the way Bruce had released his energy exactly.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
I actually there's a passage in the book at the
end that I love. I was driving on the way
to my eighth and last concert. I was going home
the next day. I was pretty excited about going home
and I'm doing and there had been seven great concerts,
so I'm thinking, all right, it's an eighth concert. Not
every concert has to be a blockbuster. You know, if
(22:34):
you're if you're a super baseball player, no one expects
you to hit a Grand Slam or a home run
every game. You can't expect and expect an extraordinary performer
like Bruce Einstein to hit the equivalent of a So
so I get to the concert. I'm sitting there thinking
about what I'm going to have for dinner after, what
(22:55):
I'm going to do the next morning, and all of
a sudden, you know, he appears on stage, and in
that moment, you know, it's like magic. It's and that
that I mean, I actually have it right here? Would
would I be able to.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Oh, please please do Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
I mean it's a couple pages.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
By all means, I'm enjoying this. I am loving this
as a Bruce fan.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
All right, So this is going to the eighth concert.
Some of this I just said. Each concert had been
completely different. Mostly they buried in the way Springsteen released
his energy. Some he'd begun in high gear, others he'd
worked his way up. Sometimes he'd gone up and down.
Always he delivered heartwarming, soul, soothing, goose bump moments, but
(23:40):
each time he'd done it in a different way. Writing
to the concert that night, I told myself there could
only be a finite number of ways Bruce Springsteen and
the EA Street Band could present and perform the high
Hopes Tor songs. I didn't think they would be able
to add a new or novel twist to this final
concert in Australia. I knew, of course, that Springsteen wasn't
going to come out on stage and mechanically run through
(24:02):
a setlist of songs from the album mixed with sin
requests from the audience. I knew he would make sure
that all twelve thousand of us in the audience had
a good time. But I had never heard of an
extraordinary baseball player hitting a Grand Slam or even a
home run every time he went to bat. Bruce Springsteen
wasn't an extraordinary performer, but I didn't expect him to
(24:23):
hit a musical Grand Slam or even a musical home
run every time he took to the stage. Not every
night had to be spellbinding. But that's the thing about magic,
the thing about Bruce Springsteen. One moment, you're sitting with
your feet on the ground, your button, your chair, thinking
about what you're going to eat after the concert, what
you're going to do the next morning. Then Bruce Springsteen
(24:46):
appears on stage, and when he does, you jump to
your feet, You clap, you dance, you jump, you sway,
goosebumps pop up all over you. You're not thinking about
the past moment, You're not thinking about the next one.
You're simply and holy in each and every moment, following
every footstep, every heeltap, every strum, every word, every muscle,
(25:09):
ripple of the man with the smile sometimes be a typic,
sometimes mischievous, sometimes mournful, sometimes so full. As you follow
this man with a smile, as he anchors you to
each moment he is also anchoring himself to you. You
do not feel alone. Feelings blossom from deep down within you.
(25:31):
Some make you gleeful, some make you sorrowful, some make
you wondrous. You don't think about why you feel these ways.
It doesn't occur to you to break out of the
moment to try to understand what's happening to you. It's
enough that you are in this place, at this time,
with this man, with these people, ensconced in this stealing.
(25:52):
You do not think that you have been cast under
a magnificent spell, A spell that awakens every single cell
in your body, a spell that fills every single cell
in your body with pulsating light. You are not thinking
about feeling alive. You are alive. You are alive on
the here and now. You are alive with this man,
(26:14):
with these people. You want for nothing, you have it all.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
That's a Bruce Springsteen concert.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
And Bruce himself has talked about his battles with depression,
so I always wonder he's getting energy off of the audience.
He's getting that same energy that the audience is getting
off of him.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Oh, it's amazing, It's just amazing. And I remember one
night in Australia, he came out on stage. I think
it was going into Spirit in the night. He goes
back and forth across the stage saying, over and over,
how do you get through the day? How do you
get through the day and stay alive inside? And watching
(26:56):
him go back and forth, I thought, Bruce Springsteen can
say this to an arena full of fans. I must
not be the only one feeling like this. It's okay
to struggle, It's okay to struggle and to try and
try again. I mean, he was validated. And I'm not
saying every song was depressed, you know about depression, but
those like really resonated with me. Or I had never
(27:19):
I mean I had never had fun, I say, done
the three letter f wort until I went to my
first Bruce Springsteen concert. But one night in Australia he
was doing tenth Avenue Freeze Out and I was just
learning the words as I was going to these concerts,
and then I suddenly heard the words and it was
it's all right to have a good time. And the
minute I heard that, I thought, it's one hundred percent okay,
(27:43):
it's okay for me to have fun. Finally, after sixty years.
I remember the moment. It was just like, yeah, it's
okay for me to have fun podcasts.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
We'll be back after this.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I think I need a break, a little break.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Okay, Hey guys, thanks so much for checking out the
Booked on Rock podcast. If you've just found the podcast, welcome.
If you've been listening, thank you so much for your support,
and make sure you tell a friend, a family member,
share on social media and let people know about Booked
on Rock. And if you do like the podcast, make
sure you subscribe give a five star review. Wherever you
(28:22):
listen to the Booked on Rock podcast, run Amazon, Apple, iHeart, Spotify, Spreaker,
tune in, and on YouTube music. You can check out
the full episodes on video, along with video highlights from
episodes on the Booked on Rock YouTube channel. Find it
at Booked on Rock. Thanks again for listening. Now back
to the show and talk about tenth Avenue Freeze out me.
(28:44):
There are so many great Bruce songs. I'm curious as
to what are the songs that you love, especially since
writing the books, since seeing him live. Because you talked
about waiting on a sunny day being one, high hopes
being another. We talked about it if I should fall behind.
What are some of the songs?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Well, actually, I'm just putting the audio book together, and
they wanted to know what song I wanted for the
intro and outdrow and I didn't even have to think.
I said dream Baby Dream, and I know it's not
his song, but he does the cover and I will
tell you. In Sydney he did a solo encore of
dream Baby Dream, and growing up I had never been
allowed to dream. I never even thought about it. I
(29:21):
was so busy trying to do everything I was told
to do then I never thought about what I might
want to do or be. As a matter of fact,
I was once seted John Oliver in the front rope
of John Oliver Show and he pointed at me, spotlight
it all and said what did you dream about as
a kid? And I just nodded and he moved on.
I didn't want to ruin his show, But that night
in Sydney, watching Bruce Ringstein saying dream Baby Dream, I
(29:45):
felt as if he were imploring himself to dream. And
the music filled me and lifted me, and that night
I floated out of the arena feeling as if I
could dream and it didn't happen right away, but I
believe that once you feel something, it's easier to recreate it.
And that was just such. That was such a profound
(30:08):
moment for me, just watching him and just feeling like
he was telling himself to do this and the music
and it's hard to put it into words, but it
just makes that music, it just makes I think, makes
you feel like dreaming.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Another cover song he did the Beg Staying Alive. Yeah,
this is another good one too. Let's talk about this one. Yeah.
Then he went into his classic Spirit in the Night.
But you're right about how you felt a spirit come
over here.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, I mean even if you don't, even before I
understood the words the music that you know his the
music just really went into me. And my husband is
very linear when we linear, so he needs to under
he needs to know the lyrics. He needs to understand
(30:57):
the lyrics to like the song where I just take
the music and I hear it with you. Yeah, then
you know the lyrics come.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
After that, plus the emotion he puts into his vocals
in the studio but also live. I mean I was
about eighteen or nineteen in college when I really got
into Bruce and just felt you just felt that energy
coming through just in the studio recordings. But I always
felt like he's there's a there's a part of us
in him and vice versa. He's just he's a regular guy,
(31:27):
came from New Jersey, didn't have a whole lot of money,
went through difficult times with his dad, was tough on him,
you know. He just had a regular life. And for
my brother in law had the Live seventy five to
eighty five box set which I borrowed for several years.
I didn't give it back until years later, and that
(31:48):
really captured the energy of Bruce Live. And that's where
he's That's where he's meant to be, and I think
he could keep going. I mean he is now. Let's
see how old would he be now?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
I know because my book's coming on in his seventy
sixth birthday in September.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Yes, seventy six, so he is almost seventy six, and
he really is still bringing it. I think he's playing
upwards of three hours every night. I don't know how
much longer he can do it, but if anybody can
do it into their eighties, it's going to be him.
And if Bob Dylan is still out there doing it
and he still loves me. Yagger, Mick Jagger, I mean
they love doing it. He's clearly not doing it for
(32:25):
the money. He doesn't have to do it. He just
loves to do. It's what he gets up in the morning,
and that's his purpose. You know, the book doesn't end
with that last show. You share with us your journey.
After you return home, and there's a visit with your
psychiatrist which ends with this wonderful moment. You told them
all about your trip, and after forty five minutes excitedly
(32:48):
sharing your experience, he holds out a prescription for a
sedative and waits for you to take it. What was
your response, Well.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
First of all, I didn't want to tell him that.
He kept egging me on, so and I'm a what
can I say. I'm a storyteller at heart, So I
started telling him a story and then it went on
and anyhow, then he when I finished its time, Yeah,
he hands me this prescription for a sedator and I
just looked at him, and I stood up and put
my bag on my arm, and I said, I did
(33:17):
not go all the way to Australia to come back
to West Philadelphia and be sedated, and I walked out
the door and never went back. And I will tell
you I actually, as I said, he didn't go on
this trip to change. And the book kind of ends
shortly after I get back. But I came home a
different person. It was the first time in my life
(33:39):
I had a positive ball of energy. And it was
the first time in my life I had a story
about me that I was proud of. I had been
a writer. I mean I had writer's block when it
came to writing about me. You know. I worked, you know,
as a freelancer. And if an editor said write five
thousand words on that tree in the backyard, I have
that in a day. But if I looked at the
(34:00):
tree and said, oh gee, I'd like to write about that,
I'd be under the desk in five minutes. But I
came home I knew I had one story to tell.
And then I got my husband to move to Chicago.
He was having trouble. He's a professor at WART and
he'd been feeling unappreciated. We went there and it was January.
It's eight degrees. I didn't know what I was going
(34:20):
to do there. And the first day, my dog walker
came in. I said, what do you do when you're
not walking dogs? And she said, well, I host a
storytelling open mic. There's a string of them across the city,
and I tell stories at the Moth. I had never
heard of storytelling. I had never heard of the Moth,
but I knew I had one story to tell. And
I had never been in front of a mic. I
(34:41):
had never stood on a stage. But I started going
to these open mics and trying to tell the story.
And then a friend made me go with them to
the mob and we got there, he said, well, you
have to get put your name in to tell a story.
I was terrified, but I got called. I went up,
I stumbled along the way as I did, and I
won that night's story Slam, and people had so many
(35:04):
questions they wanted to know more that ultimately inspired me
to write. I mean, I had to really fight through
writer's block to write this story high hopes, and I
was writing it an editor, an editor had it was
taking so long. It was during the lockdown, the COVID lockdown,
(35:25):
And I had once had this heart, this rescue dog
named Milo that I'd gotten by accident. But I didn't
have the heart to give back, and someone said you
should write about Milo. Write about Milo. I didn't think
I could, but then I found fifteen pages i'd written
many years ago. So I wrote this story Mattie, Milo
and Me, and it seemed like a more straightforward story.
So I'll try to get this out into the world
(35:46):
and then I'll come back and do this Australia story,
which is what happened. So this trip to Australia was
the beginning of a transformation that is continuing today. Twelve
years later, when the age of seventy two, a year ago,
when my first book came out, Maddy Mile and Me.
The publisher said I should go on social media to
(36:07):
promote it. And all I knew about social media was
someone that put me on Facebook fifteen years ago. But
another now by now I moved to New York City.
That was all part of coming from going to Australia,
just this energy that I got that so I was
now living in New York. I asked my dog walker
in New York. She gave me. She's the name of
(36:28):
this nineteen year old computer science major at CuNi here
in the city, Arceenni, who did social media for her. Well,
I want you to know since November, we've had eleven
twenty one viral videos. I now have almost eight hundred
thousand followers.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
And I'm telling you I went and searched for you.
You know, after reading the book, you have a tremendous following.
I mean, I was blown away. Well this is all
I'm one of your many followers now, by the way, very.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Much, I mean, and I'll tell you what happened. So
you know, I just want to I'm supposed to be
promoting my and i would start telling these stories and
then people would write to me and they'd say, your
voice is so soothing, your voice is calming, You're relatable,
you're interesting you, and I'm like, what are my pat
My father used to tell me every night at the
dinner table, you can listen, but don't speak. And until
(37:20):
the days each of them died four years ago, they
told me not to talk to them because I had
nothing interesting to say. And now I'm getting these comments
and it's like what it was surreal, and it was
as if it were the antidote to my parents' toxicity.
And it's not as if I wake up in the
morning now thinking wow, another great day to tell a
(37:40):
great story. And our city doesn't tell me who's turned
twenty one today. He doesn't tell me ahead of time
when videos were going to do, because when he does,
I say, I can't do it. But I don't feel
like the person these people describe. But I think about
what they say. And then when our SINNI says three
two one go, I turn off my brain and I
do it, and I'll tell you he started. My husband
(38:03):
and I only moved here. All we would do on weekend, well,
we go to doctors. We love the healthcare and the
and the theater here. That's what we did in New York.
But then our city said, okay, we've got to start
going around. He'd looked for viral things in New York
pastries or whatever, and we started. It was he's it's
our kids are living in California. It was great for
(38:25):
us to have this young you know, and he's really
really nice, and we'd be running around doing these things.
And then someone said to me, it looks like you're
having fun doing this, and again, I don't do fun,
but it was it made it more fun knowing people
wanted to see these things, you know, they'd write and say,
oh love these. So then my husband was supposed to
go to Paris a year in September last year to
(38:47):
give a paper, but then he had surgery so he
couldn't go, so he rescheduled for June. And someone said, well,
maybe you in our city should go to Paris and
do posts there, so I who don't like to travel
are safe. And I and my husband went to Paris
and we did. But you know, it's just how my
life has just changed, changed it. And this is what
(39:08):
if you had told me a year ago any of
this was halded. And I'll tell you once the I
started going viral, Maddie Milo and Me is still a
best seller.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
I mean, it's well, I was going to ask you
how much the social media following has helped in getting
the attention out on the books, and I can imagine.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
And last week I posted I did a post on
dream Baby, dream Well. Last week, High Hopes was the
number one Amazon bestseller in the depression category. It was
it was like down there, it was, you know, so
social media, you know it's I don't you know, I
(39:49):
don't know exactly, but you can almost see after the
videos go viral and then you check the Amazon ranking,
you can kind of you know there's there's a connection.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
But sure, look at me.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
I'm seventy two and I go out on the street
and people's young people and so many young people.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Oh on TikTok, so many Oh tiktoks are younger. Yeah,
TikTok's got a younger audience. However, I do use TikTok.
I use TikTok for the podcast because there are there
are people younger that I hope appreciate classic rock. That's
what this podcast is about. And sure enough there are.
I mean, I was at a movie theater the other day.
I was wearing a Beatles Yellow Submarine shirt and this
(40:30):
girl behind the economists for like eighteen nineteen twenty. She goes, oh,
I just saw that movie. I like the Beatles. I said, oh,
what movie? And I'm thinking movie. I mean, this is
a young person. Maybe they were talking about the Disney
documentary on Let It Be. She goes, no, no, Yellow Submarine.
I saw the movie, you know, the movie from the sixties.
Like wow, I said, that's cool, man, I said, you're
preaching to the choir. I mean, the Beatles' music is
(40:52):
timeless and it just you know, generation after generation loved
the music. She goes, oh no, I love the Beatles.
It's like, thank you. So yeah, TikTok is huge for
you as well. I saw the one you had. There
was a video where you at your place in New York,
which I have a fear of heights. I don't know
how you do that. You're walking out on that Wow,
(41:12):
your husband's out there, are taking the dog out. There
was one where you were on the beach. Is it
North Carolina?
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, I saw. It's just but you're just being you.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
That's all I know how to do.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
And that's the lesson here is for people that struggle
with depression. It's never too late. It can happen at
any time. These types of things you just have to
because you said this, this experience has guided you ever since.
So I'm curious as to what you meant by that.
I mean that when that that negative voice starts to
come in, has it changed the way you've You've battled
(41:48):
that voice.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
I still suffer with depression. I don't think I'm not
going to speak for everybody. I don't think depression is
something you really get rid of, especially when it's really sick.
But First of all, my parents died four years ago,
and that helped a lot. But this has helped. One
of the things I always wanted to do is be
part of a conversation. I wanted to be part of
(42:12):
a conversation. And now I feel that, finally I am.
Whether it's about mental health, whether it's about the power
of music. You know, here I am, I'm talking to you.
I'm seventy two, and finally, and I get that. And
I get this from a lot of young people, you know,
they're twenty thirty, forty, and they say, it's so inspiring
(42:33):
to know that if I haven't made it yet, there's
still hope.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
And it's you know, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
And you know, I say, I'm writing my third memoir
and I wanted to be called she tried, and she tried,
and she tried because I do. And I used to
tell my kids, I wanted that written on my tombstone.
But you know, just don't give up. Just try to
figure out what it is that ignites you. And that
way I came back, and this in the book. I
came back from Australia after people there saying, you know,
(43:05):
positive things to me, and I came back to these
friends and a lot of family who they didn't want
to hear. They just wanted to see me as a
depressed person. And I'll tell you I got rid of
every single one of them. My husband and I yesterday
we were married forty seven years, but we had been
married thirty five years. For two years, we were at
each other's throats. He had a lawyer, a divorce lawyer,
(43:27):
because I had this energy, and I think, you know,
I was upsetting the status quo. I got him to
go to Chicago, and but you know it was it was.
It was scary for him because I came home. I mean,
I was still depressed, but I was gonna fight. I
wasn't going to let anyone take this positive ball of
energy that I had worked so hard to get, whether
(43:48):
it was a psychiatrist or my friends who rolled their
eyes at me when I came home. You know, I
just wasn't taking that anymore.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Book on Rock podcast, We'll be back after this.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Patience, Patience, little deer, everything has to be in order.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Find the bookked on Rock website at booked on Rock
dot com. There you can find all the back episodes
of the show, the latest episode in video and audio
links to all of the platforms where you can listen
to the podcast, plus all the social media platforms were
on Blue Sky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and x. Also check
out the booked on Rock blog, find your local independent bookstore,
(44:27):
find out all the latest hot rock book releases, and
before you go, check out the booked on Rock online store.
Pick up some booked on rock merch. It's all at
booked on Rock dot com. I'm sure people listening to
this are wondering, does Bruce know about this book.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
People he has helped. I am just one a billion people.
I have just one of a billion.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Well, it might get back to him, It might get
back to him. Well, there's one last question. The book's
cover there's a picture of a Fender guitar with a
there used to be Bruce's writing on it. Is there
a story behind this?
Speaker 2 (45:02):
Yeah, there's a First of all, you have to know
with me, there's always a story, all right. So, right
after my first concert, someone told me that Bruce Springsteen
there's something called stand Up for Heroes. It's the Bob
Woodward Foundation. I was living in Philadelphia, said, Bruce Springsteen
performs there. So I was in Philadelphia. I was like
(45:23):
a hillbilly. I had never really gone to New York.
I got on the train, I came by myself. I
went to this stand up for heroes and what it was.
Bruce Springsteen came at the end with his guitar, and
now I was so out of it. I didn't even
know Bruce Springsteen ever performed alone. I didn't know he
played the guitar by himself. And then they optioned this
(45:45):
guitar off and I was like, oh my god, like,
what would happen if I spent five thousand dollars on this?
When my husband said, of course, you know, it went
for much more. But then I started going there. I
went for two years. In the third year, they were
auctioning it off and the person got it and then
he's before he said yes, he said, but I want
(46:05):
a tin of your mother's lasagna. So the auctioneer looked
at Bruce spinste he said okay. The next year the
person said I want a tin of your mother's lasignan
and I want to have it at your house, and
Bruce Spinstein said, okay. So I just my husband and
I was like, oh my god, can you imagine like
the conversation I want, I want to go. I have
(46:27):
to have this. I don't care what we have to sell.
And my husband's like, okay, we're not going to talk
about this for a year, but anyhow, and I'm saying, who,
who in the world that's alive would I want to
have a conversation with. So I went back the next year.
I got a really good seat. I was I was
gonna do this. Well, guess what. They weren't doing that anymore.
Instead it was you can you could win the guitar
(46:52):
the guitar. But it came with Becks. It was right
before the River tour that he started up again and
tooth it. So you got back. You got two tickets
to that and a backstage tour with him. So but
I was so pumped that, okay, this is actually a
really good story. So I got so pumped I didn't
care what they were actually So I and another couple
behind me we both bid on it and got it.
(47:15):
So afterwards, they take you this isn't the Madison Square
Garden in the small theater. They take you up to
the cinderblock dressing room to do photo ops and to
meet and to meet Bruce Springsteen. So that's how I
got it. Okay. So we go up there and and
I have on this down coat with a heart with
a which I purposely wore, with a scarf with hearts
(47:37):
on it, and I'm just stilling. And now I had
figured out by now what I would say if I
ever met Bruce Springsteen. And I once had once heard
someone say to Kate Blanchette, I know you must hear
this all the time, but I think you're amazing. So
I thought, if that's what I'm going to say if
I ever meet him. So he comes in, he shakes
my hand, and I tell him I went to Australia,
and then I say that line. Okay. He goes, yeah, okay,
that was a really good tour. Then it's time to
(47:59):
take the photo. Ops and the other couple who had
won the guitar. The woman was in her forties and
she had long blonde hair, and she had dress blue
dress with you know, the cleavage and everything. He did
the pictures with her. Then he does the pictures with
my husband. And remember I'm in a winter coat with
a heart scarf on. So after I said to him,
(48:20):
could you could I after we do these pictures, could
my husband take a photo of you and me. He goes, sure,
so Aunt, my husband stands it with the iPhone, and
then Bruce Springsteen puts his lips on my cheek as
if he's kissing me, and my husband screws it up
and he has to do it longer. So my favorite
story about that is that Bruce Springsteen is the master
(48:42):
of minding the moment. Like if he had put a
kiss on that woman with the dress with the cleavage
like that might who knows what that would do, but
I would, And then I have one. I once in
twenty fourteen, I went to a concert in Albany the
day after Mother's Day and he goes to take car
(49:02):
and someone gave him a letter and it was just
really long, and he goes, oh, fuck, you know, I
don't know. And then he gets to the end and
it says, my mother's a big fan of yours, and
I'm a big fan of my mother's. Would you dance
with my mother? And he goes oh, And then he
takes her up on stage and he accused the band
and they danced to save the last dance for me. Now,
(49:23):
this was the day after Mother's Day. I had had
the worst Mother's day of my life. A lot of
people had had bad mother's days. Either they wished their mother.
You know, everyone had a mother or something, and they
it's up on the big screen. This woman was perfect.
She had you know, mom jeans and little white sneakers
and the perfect little bob and they're doing this dance
(49:44):
and we were all just you know, he just knew
how to connect. And this huge guy who was standing
next to me, he tasks me on the shoulder and
he points up to the big screen to you know, everybody.
You know what I mean. He knew how to connect
with everyone. And that's the same way he kissed me
when I got the guitar, and then I had He
(50:05):
couldn't do dream baby dreams, so he did for the inscription.
So it was waiting on a sunny day.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
Yes, I'm trying to read. My head's turning here to
the side to ann Let's see what is it to
and from? It's hard to read his right now.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
No, I thought I saw a breeze. Must have been
you know, it's one of it's the chorus.
Speaker 1 (50:26):
But look how creative he is with just writing that,
like all the he does A little guitar son the
sun yeah, look at the signature. Yeah, that's so cool.
And that's on the cover of the book, which people
can get on September twenty third.
Speaker 2 (50:44):
Right, reorder it now.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
You can preorder it now so you can go to
all the places usual places like Amazon. You can also
look forward at your nearest bookstore when it's out in September.
You can find your nearest independent bookstore a book rock
dot com. Now, where can people find you online? And
talk about website? Social media?
Speaker 2 (51:06):
Let people know my handle is.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
Whoever's left that doesn't know about your social media?
Speaker 2 (51:13):
It's I guess at. My name is A N N
E S I M A. My middle name A B
E L and able at. So that's what your website is.
An ableauthor dot.
Speaker 1 (51:27):
Com and able author dot com.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
Okay, a B E L not a B L E.
Speaker 1 (51:32):
Gotcha. And I think through the website too, people can
also connect to the social media sites and the book
and ordered the book. So yeah, perfect, And this is
such a great discussion and I'm so happy that we
were able to do this again. I'm a huge Bruce fan,
but you know, I also have struggled. There's so many
I struggle with depression, but more so anxiety. For me,
(51:53):
anxieties just just always right up in my face and
always just it just sometimes it gets to be so
bad that it leads to depression, like you know what,
like that voice in your head like you're not going
to beat this, you know, and you have to fight it.
And for me, music has always been the most powerful
tool to lift you up. And Bruce has been one
of those guys who's been His music has been like
(52:16):
a best friend to me since I was nineteen eighteen,
nineteen years old. And we'll be right until the end.
So that's why I just love this story. It's a
beautiful story. So thank you for being on and thank
you for writing the book.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Thank you for being so accepting about it and understanding
for everything that's it. It's in the books.
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New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!