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Congrats to all the winners!!!

‘Apollo 11’ Wins Top Prize at Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards

“Apollo 11” has been named the best nonfiction film of 2019 at the fourth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, which took place on Sunday evening at BRIC in Brooklyn, New York.

The chronicle of NASA’s 1969 moon mission won five awards in total, topping all other films at the ceremony voted on by film and television critics and journalists in the Critics’ Choice Association.

“Apollo 11” won in the Best Documentary Feature category that also included “American Factory,” “The Biggest Little Farm,” “The Cave,” “Honeyland,” “The Kingmaker,” “Knock Down the House,” “Maiden,” “One Child Nation,” “They Shall Not Grow Old” and the two-part HBO documentary series “Leaving Neverland.” (The Critics’ Choice rules do not differentiate between film and television docs.)

The Best Director category ended in a tie between Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert for “American Factory” and Peter Jackson for “They Shall Not Grow Old.”

Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov’s film “Honeyland,” which is also competing in the Oscars international race as the entry from North Macedonia, won the award for Best First Documentary Feature.

In other awards, “Apollo 11” won for science/nature documentary, “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” for biographical documentary, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice” for music documentary, “American Factory” for political documentary, “Maiden” for sports documentary and “Apollo 11” for archival documentary.

“They Shall Not Grow Old,” Jackson’s reconstruction of World War I footage, was named the year’s most innovative documentary.

“The Biggest Little Farm” won for its cinematography, “Apollo 11” for its editing and score and “Western Stars” for its narration, which was written and performed by Bruce Springsteen.

Nine months after winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short, “Period. End of Sentence.” won the Critics’ Choice award in the same category.

“American Factory” went into the show with the most nominations, seven, while “Apollo 11” and “They Shall Not Grow Old” received six.

In the first three years of the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, which was spun off from the Critics’ Choice Awards as a separate show in 2016, the winner has gone on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature only once, with “O.J.: Made in America” in 2016. The next two years, the Critics’ Choice winner — “Jane” in 2017 and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” in 2018 — was not even nominated for the documentary Oscar.

Veteran director Frederick Wiseman received the D.A. Pennebaker Award, a lifetime-achievement honor renamed this year in honor of the late documentary pioneer. Michael Apted received the Landmark Award for his work on the “Up” series of documentaries, which began examining the lives of a group of British children with “7 Up” in 1964, when they were seven years old, and has included a new film every seven years to this year’s “63 Up.”

The show was hosted by Jonathan Scott of HGTV’s “Property Brothers.”

The winners:

Best Documentary Feature: “Apollo 11”
Best Director: (TIE) Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, “American Factory” and Peter Jackson, “They Shall Not Grow Old”
Best Cinematography: John Chester, “The Biggest Little Farm”
Best Editing: Todd Douglas Miller, “Apollo 11”
Best Score: Matt Morton, “Apollo 11”
Best Narration: Bruce Springsteeen (narrator and writer), “Western Stars”

Best First Documentary Feature: Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov, “Honeyland”
Best Archival Documentary: “Apollo 11”
Best Biographical Documentary: “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am”
Best Music Documentary: “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice”
Best Political Documentary: “American Factory”
Best Science/Nature Documentary: “Apollo 11”
Best Sports Documentary: “Maiden”
Most Innovative Documentary: “They Shall Not Grow Old”

Best Short Documentary: “Period. End of Sentence.”

Most Compelling Living Subjects of a Documentary (non-competitive category):
Dr. Amani Ballor, “The Cave”
David Crosby, “David Crosby: Remember My Name”
Tracy Edwards, “Maiden”
Imelda Marcos, “The Kingmaker”
Hatidze Muratova, “Honeyland”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin, “Knock Down the House”
Linda Ronstadt, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice”
Dr. Ruth Westheimer, “Ask Dr. Ruth”

D.A. Pennebaker Award: Frederick Wiseman
Landmark Award: Michael Apted for the “Up” series

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Hurry up, December 15th!!!!

Bruce Springsteen’s Broadway show is coming to Netflix

Bruce Springsteen is no stage actor, but he still managed to win a special Tony Award this year thanks to his Broadway show. Part autobiography, part concert, Springsteen on Broadway has seen the rock legend perform the same solo acoustic setlist (complete with anecdotal life stories) at Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theatre since last October. Soon, you won’t need a ticket to see it for yourself. A recorded version of Springsteen on Broadway will be coming to Netflix this December, it was announced Wednesday.

“Nothing about Springsteen on Broadway feels like an easy cash-grab, or even simply a rock star looking for a kinder schedule that doesn’t involve trekking from city to city day after day,” Madison Vain wrote in EW’s A- review of the show. “Instead, with its mix of live music and stories and readings adapted from his 2016 autobiography Born to Run, Springsteen on Broadway lets one of popular music’s most beloved icons flex all kinds of creative muscle in a rare, intimate setting that showcases the true breadth of talents.”

The filmed version of Springsteen on Broadway is directed by Emmy winner Thom Zimny, and produced by the same team that produced the theater show, including Springsteen manager Jon Landau, Springsteen tour director George Travis, and Landau Management partner Barbara Carr.

Though the show was originally set for only an eight-week run, its acclaim and success got it renewed three times. It will end for good on Dec. 15, the same night that it will become available to Netflix viewers worldwide.

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Please, please, please, please, please, please, please let me get a code to get a ticket this time!!

Here’s Why Bruce Springsteen Decided to Extend His Broadway Run

Forget Vegas. Bruce Springsteen may have found a new home for big musical acts.

The Boss has announced a third extension to his perennially sold out Springsteen on Broadway show, which will keep him playing the Manhattan gig through Dec. 15, 2018.

What’s the appeal of Broadway vs. a stadium tour, though? For Springsteen, it could come down to a few factors.

Springsteen’s The River anniversary tour in 2016 was the year’s top grossing concert, bringing in $268.3 million, according to Pollstar. Springsteen on Broadway, meanwhile, has had box office receipts of $44 million during its five-month run.

But the Broadway show has considerably lower expenses. There’s no band to pay, nor roadies or hotel bills, or any of the other costs of traveling around the country. And even by Broadway standards, it’s a cheap show, since there’s no supporting cast and a small crew required to run it. The profit margins are significantly higher.

Springsteen plays five shows a week. The rest of the time, he can skip hotel life and head home to his equestrian ranch in Colts Neck, N.J., roughly an hour from the theater. That’s appealing for anyone, especially a 68 year old.

Tickets for Springsteen on Broadway have been red hot from the moment they went on sale—and Springsteen hates to leave fans disappointed. The only people who will have a chance to pick up seats to these extra shows will be those who had earlier registered to buy, but weren’t able to get them. (Well, and people willing to pay outrageous amounts to scalpers.) Springsteen says this will be the final extension of the show.

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Today is a great day in music history!!

HOW ONE AMAZING NIGHT LED TO BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’S ‘NEBRASKA’

Following the massive success of 1980’s double album The River, many expected Bruce Springsteen to follow up his first No. 1 album with another set of radio-friendly rock songs. Instead, the songwriter released Nebraska, a stark acoustic record that was mostly recorded in one session, on Jan. 3, 1982.

Ironically, the recording of Nebraska began as an exercise in then-new technology. For years, Springsteen had recorded demos into a boom box. But he decided to invest in a Teac Tascam 144 four-track cassette recorder so that he could add an extra guitar or percussion to give the E Street Band a better idea of what he wanted.

Mike Batlan, his then-guitar tech, set up the portable studio in Springsteen’s bedroom in Colts Neck, N.J. on the morning of Jan. 3 and went to work. In a marathon session that took them deep into the night, Springsteen recorded guitar-and-vocal tracks for 15 songs, with overdubs on a few. Two others, “My Father’s House” and “The Big Payback,” were recorded a few months later.

But when the band tried to record Spingsteen’s new material, only four of the songs – “Born in the U.S.A.,” “Pink Cadillac,” “Downbound Train” and “Child Bride,” which was later rewritten as “Working on the Highway” – translated to a full-band arrangement. Three of those wound up on Born in the U.S.A. two years later, while “Pink Cadillac” was the b-side of “Dancing in the Dark.”

The problem was that the songs continued the dark themes found on the second disc of The River, like “Stolen Car” and “Wreck on the Highway.” While the songs weren’t necessarily autobiographical, the demons haunting the characters reflected Springsteen’s own desperation and isolation – even as he was becoming a big star – that stemmed largely from his troubled relationship with his father. The characters were lost and adrift, and the raw, ghostly sound of the demos worked better than the E Street Band’s bar-band rock.

Five of the songs – “Atlantic City,” “Highway Patrolman,” “Johnny 99,” “State Trooper” and the title track – deal with characters who have turned to a life of crime. It didn’t make sense to put a heavy back beat to, say, “My Father’s House,” or a soul-inflected Clarence Clemons sax solo on “Used Cars.” Springsteen’s harmonica did the trick.

Unable to get the sound he wanted from the band, Springsteen asked engineer Toby Scott if there was any way to put out the cassette of the demos. Scott was able to do his magic, and Nebraska was released, to minimal hype, on Sept. 30, 1982.

To this day, the “Electric Nebraska” sessions, outside of those four songs, have not been released either officially or on bootleg. But Springsteen has since figured out how to rock out on half of the Nebraska material. “Atlantic City,” “Mansion on the Hill,” “Johnny 99,” “Open All Night” and “Reason to Believe” have all been somewhat regularly performed by the full band on various tours.

Meanwhile, Springsteen has revisited this period’s stripped-down approach on two other albums; 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad, and Devils & Dust from a decade later. Neither of them, however, have the consistency and power of what was recorded in a New Jersey bedroom on that January day in 1982.

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Here’s hoping I (finally!!) get to go!!

Bruce Springsteen Extends Broadway Production With New 2018 Dates

Bruce Springsteen extended his intimate, 16-week Broadway series into 2018. Springsteen on Broadway, staged at Jujamcyn’s Walter Kerr Theatre, will continue with a round of new shows set for February 28th through June 30th.

The rock legend’s acclaimed, sold-out run began previews on October 3rd, 2017 and officially launched October 12th. The singer-songwriter initially performed through November 26th before extending the production until February 3rd. At the conclusion of this added 10-week jaunt, Springsteen will have staged 80 total shows at the theater.

According to Springsteen’s website, fans who previously registered for tickets through Ticketmaster Verified Fan will not need to register again for the extension. Ticketmaster will contact and provide further details about the new shows to those who were placed on Standby,but didn’t receive a code, as well as those who received a code but were unable to purchase tickets.

Fans interested in purchasing tickets after the December 19th ticket on-sale can participate in a digital lottery via Lucky Seat.

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I want to go to there!!

Springsteen’s Broadway debut is bringing audiences to tears

When legendary record producer and talent scout John Hammond signed Bruce Springsteen in 1972, the scraggly Jersey kid was envisioned as a lyrically intricate singer-songwriter, who might be New Jersey’s answer to Bob Dylan.

Now, after 45 years of tearing up stages all over the world with the E Street Band, the Boss has returned to the stripped-down sound that first got him noticed. On Thursday, Springsteen began his residency at Broadway’s 975-seat Walter Kerr Theatre and, in a sense, went full circle on his career.

Dressed in his usual dark shirt, jeans and boots, and backed with just piano, his guitars and a glass of water, the 68-year-old takes his fans on a biographical journey, as told through his back catalog and a set of scripted monologues. For two hours, you’re not just listening to Springsteen’s songs and anecdotes, you’re a silent witness to entire scenes of his life.

Sections of the bare-bones show are lifted from Springsteen’s 2016 autobiography “Born To Run,” and, just as in the book, Springsteen’s childhood in Freehold, NJ, is described in arresting detail. Whether it’s his memory of seeing Elvis on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” or of having ice water tipped on his sleepy head by his mother, Adele, the tales are unnervingly immersive.

In one sequence, he remembers his mom sending him into local bars to bring his dad home and articulates the experience so well, you can almost taste the light beer, cheap cigarettes and working-class resentment that Douglas Springsteen had for much of his life.

Frequently, Bruce drifts away from the microphone, but his monologues are still audible, and in this environment, they hit home harder than any Clarence Clemons sax solo, any Steve Van Zandt guitar riff or any Max Weinberg drum fill would.

True Bruce-heads will have heard these stories hundreds of times, and the songs thousands of times. But having them whispered in your ear from touching distance means they pack a bigger emotional punch.

During “Thunder Road,” I could hear at least three people gently sobbing (full disclosure: one of them was me), and there was no mistaking the seething fury of a forgotten Vietnam veteran in the chilling slide-guitar blues version of “Born in the USA.” This isn’t your usual night out at the Meadowlands, so if you yell “Brooooce!” too much, you run the risk of getting sternly shushed.

No one could ever say the E Street Band is unnecessary, but after so many years of blistering rock ’n’ roll shows (not least the four-hour marathons that lit up last year’s “The River” tour), the best way Springsteen can revitalize his music is to pull his soldiers back.

For now, only one E Street member remains in play, and that’s his wife, Patti Scialfa. She makes a brief appearance, duetting with Bruce on “Tougher Than the Rest” and “Brilliant Disguise,” during which the couple stare each other down in a way that’s so charged, you feel like you should probably look away.

It’s not all sad Jersey dirges, though. The Boss injects some laughs into the proceedings, too. “I’ve never done an honest day’s work, I’ve never worked a 9-to-5, never done any hard labor, and yet it’s all I’ve written about,” he says at one point. But the rehearsed nature of these lines leaves them feeling a little stilted.

Thankfully, there are candid, off-script moments that stand out. During Tuesday night’s preview, the best gag came when Bruce, upon hearing the crowd clapping along to “Dancing in the Dark,” stopped playing and said dryly, “I’ll handle this one myself.” It’s billed as a one-man show, and clearly, he intends to keep it that way.

It wouldn’t be accurate to say Bruce has never presented himself in this fashion. Tours in support of 1995’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad” and 2005’s “Devils & Dust” both showcased Springsteen in a more acoustic setting. But those albums largely illuminated the Boss in character. This is the first time since 1972 that Springsteen has put his entire life — unclouded and unaccompanied — onstage.

Hammond passed away in 1987, but as Springsteen himself stated recently, the Broadway setup is something his Columbia Records mentor would have loved.

“John thought Bruce was perfect as he was,” Springsteen’s first manager, Mike Appel, tells The Post. “Even I thought a band would be distracting because he was such an extraordinary lyricist. Without the band playing, you’re less likely to miss those lyrics and realize, ‘Wow, that’s powerful stuff.’”

Springsteen played just seven previews — with tickets on the black market fetching four-figure sums — before opening Thursday, but he’s already drawing repeat customers.

“He brings everything, and leaves nothing,” says Rick Zins, a 56-year-old financial adviser who first saw Springsteen at the Palladium in 1976, and has already been to the Walter Kerr Theatre twice. “You have to be here to understand it, but this show is expanding his legacy.”

Bruce’s Broadway set list:

“Growin’ Up”
“My Hometown”
“My Father’s House”
“The Wish”
“Thunder Road”
“The Promised Land”
“Born in the USA”
“Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”
“Tougher Than the Rest” (with Patti Scialfa)
“Brilliant Disguise” (with Patti Scialfa)
“Long Walk Home”
“The Rising”
“Dancing in the Dark”
“Land of Hope and Dreams”
“Born to Run”

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Forty More Dates For Ticketmaster To Sell To Re-Sellers.

Springsteen On Broadway Adds 40 Dates

The intimate Springsteen On Broadway show featuring The Boss solo at The Walter Kerr Theatre in New York has been expanded, with 40 new dates taking the show into February.

The initial run sold out after going on sale this morning.

The new shows are Dec. 5-9, Dec. 12-16, Dec. 19-23 Dec. 23-27, Dec. 30-31 and Feb. 1-3.

The added concerts give Bruce Springsteen fans more chances to get tickets. Although using Ticketmaster’s VerifiedFan and requiring registration and a lottery system, fans attempting to buy tickets at the Aug. 30 onsale complained about glitches while ordering, cheaper seats already being gone and tickets still appearing on secondary sites like StubHub at (of course) exorbitant prices.

StubHub was listing about 20 Springsteen On Broadway shows with tickets well beyond the $1,000 mark.

Retail ranged from $75 to $850.

Springsteen has long complained of scalpers and the secondary market but it’s not easy having the hottest ticket around.

Fans who registered for tickets already don’t need to register again for the new batch, according to Springsteen’s announcement.

The new tickets go on sale, again exclusively through Ticketmaster VerifiedFan, Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. ET.

Springsteen described the show when it was announced earlier this month: “I wanted to do some shows that were as personal and as intimate as possible,” Springsteen said. “I chose Broadway for this project because it has the beautiful old theaters which seemed like the right setting for what I have in mind.”

Springsteen added that the 960-seat Walter Kerr Theater (on 219 West 48th Street) is “with one or two exceptions” the smallest venue he’s played in the last 40 years.

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Good luck America and to all Americans!!

Bruce Springsteen pays tribute to the Women’s March: ‘We are the new American resistance’

Bruce Springsteen’s ongoing tour prevented him from joining the Women’s Marches in the United States, but the Boss took a minute out of his Australia show Sunday to recognize the thousands who did attend the protests.

“We’re a long way from home, and our hearts and spirits are with the hundreds of thousands of men and women that marched yesterday in every city in America — and in Melbourne!” Springsteen said to the crowd, according to a video clip posted on his official Twitter account.

An estimated 500,000 people participated in the Women’s March on Washington Saturday, the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Many other cities across the country — and the world — also hosted sister protests.

“[They] rallied against hate and division and in support of tolerance, inclusion, reproductive rights, civil rights, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, the environment, wage equality, gender equality, healthcare, and immigrant rights,” he continued. “We stand with you. We are the new American resistance.”

Springsteen has previously been outspoken about his opposition to Trump’s presidency. On a recent episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, he talked about his fears — “It’s as simple as the fear of, is someone simply competent enough to do this particular job?” he said — and also offered some hope.

“America is still America,” the “Born in the U.S.A.” singer concluded. “I still believe in its ideals, and I’m going to do my best to play my very, very small part in maintaining those things.”

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The perks of being President.

Bruce Springsteen Played Secret White House Concert for Obama Staffers

Bruce Springsteen staged a secret acoustic concert at the White House January 12th to reward President Barack Obama’s staff for their hard work over the past eight years, Backstreets revealed Wednesday.

The 15-song set took place in front of approximately 250 staffers in the White House’s East Room, where two months earlier Springsteen was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The set list for the unique performance leaned towards the singer’s more political works, and Springsteen frequently discussed politics and Obama’s impact between each song.

Before “Born in the U.S.A.,” Springsteen called the 1984 hit single a “protest song” and lamented that the track had been misinterpreted in the past, and it would continued to be misinterpreted in the future, Backstreets reports. He also played a triptych of “home” songs, “My Hometown,” “My Father’s House” and “Long Walk Home.”

Springsteen also dedicated “Tougher Than the Rest,” which also featured Patti Scalfia, to the Obamas for all they endured during their time in the White House. The concert concluded with the one-two punch of “Dancing in the Dark” and the optimistic “Land of Hope and Dreams.”

Following the concert, Obama thanked Springsteen. “He’s been with us for some time now, performing his craft to show his support,” the president told his staff.

Springsteen was also reportedly in attendance at the White House a week earlier when the Obamas threw one final star-studded bash, with Paul McCartney, Jerry Seinfeld, Beyonce and Jay Z, Solange, Chance the Rapper and many more celebrities present at that fete.

Bruce Springsteen White House setlist (via Backstreets):
“Working on the Highway”
“Growin’ Up”
“My Hometown”
“My Father’s House”
“The Wish”
“Thunder Road”
“The Promised Land”
“Born in the U.S.A.”
“Devils & Dust”
“Tougher Than the Rest” (with Patti Scialfa)
“If I Should Fall Behind” (with Patti Scialfa)
“The Ghost of Tom Joad”
“Long Walk Home”
“Dancing in the Dark”
“Land of Hope and Dreams”

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I Want To Go To There!!

Bruce Springsteen Archives Headed to Monmouth University

Bruce Springsteen’s archives will be housed at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, The New York Times reports.

The rocker’s personal collection of written works, photographs, magazines and other artifacts from throughout his career will make up the new Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music. Monmouth is fittingly located near the Jersey Shore, not far from Springsteen’s hometown of Freehold and even closer to Asbury Park, the beach town where his career began.

“The establishment of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music celebrates and reinforces the Jersey Shore’s legacy in the history of American music, while providing a truly transformative experience for our students,” said University President, Paul R. Brown.

While Springsteen’s collection will be the primary focus, the Center will reportedly also promote other legendary American musicians such as Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams and Frank Sinatra. The materials will be available to classes throughout the University, especially its music business program.

Prior to gaining Springsteen’s personal archives, Monmouth established the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection in 2011. The collection began at the Asbury Park Public Library and now boasts nearly 35,000 items, many of them donated by fans. Robert Santelli, the executive director of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles and a Monmouth alum, helped his alma mater secure that collection and was reportedly involved in bringing Springsteen’s archives to the University as well. Santelli is expected to take on a leadership position at the new Springsteen Center

Monmouth did not disclose any financial details about the new Springsteen Center, though both the interest in and price of rock archives has grown. Last March, the George Kaiser Family Foundation purchased a trove of 6,000 artifacts from Bob Dylan’s private collection for an estimated $15 to $20 million.