By John W. Barry
The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, a colossal project dedicated to the legacy of The Boss, the legacy of modern American music and the inspiration both have provided for generations of music lovers around the world, will open June 7 at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ.
“The Springsteen Center provides a home for Bruce Springsteen’s archives and places him in the greater story of American music,” Robert Santelli, the Center’s founding executive director, said in a press release announcing the opening date. “Popular music is one of America’s most enduring and respected cultural resources and Bruce Springsteen is one of its most important artists.”
Springsteen has sold hundreds of millions of records and for more than 50 years has up a mirror to the nation, helping his fans and his critics alike understand the American experience, its triumphs and its failures.
“Through vivid storytelling, exuberant performances, and a distinctive blend of rock, folk, and soul, Bruce Springsteen rose from Jersey street poet to socially conscious cultural icon, an artist whose voice spoke to—and for—multiple generations worldwide,” reads the website for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, into which Springsteen was inducted in 1999. “Restlessly reinventing himself while remaining authentic to his blue-collar values, he mastered everything from intense, understated ballads to arena-filling anthems, delivering an impressively diverse soundtrack for hungry hearts everywhere.”
How did it all begin? Eileen Chapman, Director of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, was responsible for bringing the collection to Monmouth University. Chapman is an Asbury Park Councilwoman; 42-year resident of Asbury; and former general manager of the legendary Stone Pony music venue in Asbury.
Click here for the whole story detailing the evolution of an idea and how it became the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music.
Exhibits in the new Garden State destination will chronicle Springsteen’s career while exploring his creative process. Genre and thematic displays of American music and more than a dozen interactive experiences will showcase America’s unparalleled musical legacy.
The legacy of American music across decades has unfolded on a grand scale stretching from sea-to-shining sea.
But perhaps even more importantly, this legacy has on a smaller scale empowered a sense of place, identity and enduring community strength in cities that include New York; New Orleans; Chicago; St. Louis; Detroit; Memphis; Nashville; Atlanta; San Francisco, Los Angeles; Philadelphia; Seattle; Tulsa; Austin; Athens, Ga.; Woodstock, NY; and, of course, Asbury Park, N.J.
Asbury is where Springsteen cut his teeth, established himself as a musician and built a cultural and civic home on the Jersey Shore, for himself and his fans.
All of this is certain to share the spotlight at the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University, just four miles from Asbury Park and just minutes from the beach in Long Branch.
Bruce Springsteen performs in London, England. Courtesy Photo/Shore Fire Media
Formerly the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music, this going concern has been gearing up for liftoff for some time now.
Staged annually by the Center, the American Music Honors celebration has welcomed Mavis Staples, Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne, Dion DiMucci and many other notable names. Springsteen has played a pivotal, in-person role in these events, as he did last year during a symposium on the 50th anniversary of the release of his iconic album, “Born to Run.”
And Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music Director of Curatorial Services Melissa Ziobro has been a constant presence in New Jersey communities. Ziobro, among her many duties, has been working tirelessly while sharing with the public how the Center is telling the story of the Garden State, the nation, the cultural and civic past and future of both, and how it all resonates on a daily basis for anyone with a vested interest in this great, ever-evolving, wobbly-wagon wheel of an experiment called the U.S. of A.
The Director of Public History and a Professor of History at Monmouth, Ziobro also hosts the monthly “Conversation with Our Curator” Zoom series. This popular program highlights a range of musical genres and welcomes authors, writers and researchers who advance the discussion around Bruce, New Jersey and modern music while welcoming input from Zoom attendees.
Click here to learn more about the “Conversations with Our Curator” series.
“We are honored to host the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music on our beautiful campus here at the Jersey Shore,” said Monmouth University President Patrick F. Leahy. “This center reminds us that music has always been one of the most powerful teachers in American life. We are proud to open this new destination to scholars, students, fans and neighbors as a place where American music in all of its forms can be preserved, studied, and celebrated.”
So, will Bruce be in attendance for the opening of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music on June 7?
Well, the upcoming leg of his global “Land of Hope & Dreams” tour wraps up in Washington, D.C. on May 27.
So, as the saying goes around Asbury, regarding performances and events around town, “I heard Bruce might show up.”
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