Max Weinberg Officially Splits With Conan OíBrien
After months of rumors, itís finally official: Max Weinberg wonít be going with Conan OíBrien to Conanís new show on TBS. Guitarist Jimmy Vivino will be leading the house musicians, as he often did when Weinberg took breaks from the show to tour with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. James Wormworth, Weinbergís long-time on-air substitute, will be the groupís new full-time drummer. Vivino broke the news in an interview with the St. Louis Riverfront Times. ìMax has his big band out there that has been his dream all his life,î Vivino said. ìAnd there’s a kid in Jersey that works with him occasionally.î
E Street Band guitarist Steve Van Zandt tells Rolling Stone that heís not sure what caused the split. ìI donít know why Max and Conan arenít together anymore,î he says. ìBut whatever, they had some good years, and Conan gave Max credit for keeping the show on the air for the first two years. That was nice. He was a big fan of the band and he didnít want to mess around with that too much. He was quite good to us over the years.î
Weinberg was Conanís bandleader from the very beginning of Late Night With Conan OíBrien in 1993, though he would take frequent breaks after Springsteen reunited with the E Street Band in 1999. Weinberg continued the role during Conanís ill-fated stint as the host of The Tonight Show, but was the only member of the band to not go on the ìLegally Prohibited From Being Funny on Televisionî tour earlier this year. Instead, he formed the Max Weinberg Big Band and went on his own tour. When Rolling Stone asked about his future with Conan in June, he played coy. ìI literally have not thought about it,” he said. “There have been no discussions. It’s kind of an open question.”
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