XMASTIME

Everyone's making a big deal out of today being the 30-year anniversary of the release of Nebraska, but I mean, what the hell can you say about it at this point? Does a book come out every day analyzing the record? (answer: yes.)

Meanwhile, I stumbled upon this. Yeesh. Now that's olden times.

Perhaps the most obscure show played by the E Street Band took place April 18, 1973 on a high school stage in Lincroft, NJ. There’s no known setlist, published review, or bootleg tape. Some performance chronologies don’t even list the venue.

What there is is Pegasus 1973, the yearbook of Christian Brothers Academy, a Catholic high school 13 miles northeast of Freehold. Carl Beams, a founding member of The Friends of the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection, had seen Springsteen early on with the Castiles and Steel Mill, but the 1973 Christian Brothers Academy was his first E Street Band show. For years, he searched for the yearbook, and finally found it recently at the Collingswood Auction and Flea Market in Farmingdale. For $5.00. Only to see another copy offered days later on eBay for $1,500.