The "The Boss - What Else Need I Say!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Monday, June 25, 1984 and I'm talking with my friend Jim who stopped in at the high school where we taught to pick up a couple of items from his classroom.  Stuck his head in my room where I was busy working on the summer printing needs for the school district to tell me he had been down to The Village on Saturday to hear "The Boss."  Jim is a big fan of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and when he heard they were on stage at The Village in Downtown Lancaster, he headed to the nightclub.  

Bruce at The Village Nite Club

Seems that Bruce and his band were in town to try out their new audio system that had been constructed by Clair Bros. who are located a few miles to the north in Lititz, Pennsylvania.  Roy and Gene Clair were known worldwide for their fantastic stage and audio sound systems and many big name performers came to Lititz to try out their systems.  A few years ago I wrote about Peter Frampton arriving in Lancaster to try out a new system and found there was no place to practice.  The Clair brothers were friends of the assistant principal at the high school where I taught and in no time Peter Frampton and his band were on stage at the high school for a practice session.  I managed to get our school yearbook photographer to take photos of the practice and later that year one of the photos graced the cover of our yearbook.  Peter found out about it and called to buy a few copies for he and his band members.  Well, seems that while Bruce and the E Street Band were in town to test their new sound system in Lititz, they stayed at the nearby Host Town in Manheim Township.  A young Host Town lifeguard at the time, Dana Murr, found out that the band was staying at the motel and since Bruce and his band were her favorite band, managed to find them and talk with them.  The next day, Friday, June 22, Bruce stopped at the pool to talk with her and ask if she could show him and his band around downtown Lancaster later that evening.  

Bruce and the E Street Band

She told them a local band, The Sharks, was playing at The Village Nightclub and they agreed to go with her to the club.  Clarence Clemons, Bruce's sidekick and saxophone player drove the car with Bruce and Dana in the front seat and the rest of the band in the back seat.  It was close to midnight when they arrived and walked into the club.  Can you imagine the excitement created by having Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band arrive to watch a local band.  Springsteen and some of his bandmates went backstage during a break and asked if they could play.  Wasn't long before they were onstage for about 35 minutes playing songs like "Glory Days", "Dancing in the Dark", "Out in the Street", "Hungry Heart", and "Born in the U.S.A.".  Word spread quick and by the time the band was done playing the place was packed.  After singing, the group, including Dana, headed out the back door to the waiting car to head back to the Host Town.  

In 2016 Bruce was awarded the Presidential
Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

Before they left Lancaster, Clemons gave Dana a harmonica and told her if she ever got to a Philadelphia concert they would give her a pair of backstage passes.  Well, it happened and Dana got her special gift for helping the band enjoy that evening in Lancaster at The Village.  That was 35 years ago and since then Springsteen has played more than 80 other concerts in the state of Pennsylvania, but none as exciting and jampacked as the concert at The Village.  Bruce will turn 70 this coming September 23 and I'm sure he will never forget his trip to The Village in downtown Lancaster that Friday night June 25 in 1984.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.