Trevor and I on the plane to Manhattan. He slept. I didn’t. You can’t see my Springsteen tour t-shirt in this photo. Brooooce.

Dear blog,

Yesterday was a bit of a non-day. Up at 6.00am, pack, have a breakfast, check out of the hotel, meet up with Trevor, get on the shuttle to the airport (which was a mixed success), then on to the plane. Trevor tried to get us better seats, which didn’t quite work out for me, but would have been great if I lost a few kilos. A bit uncomfortable otherwise. I whiled away the six hour flight – American Airlines, btw, remains a fairly ‘orrible airline and is back on my ‘avoid if possible’ list – while Trevor slept.  A highlight was getting to talk with Mike, an event producer who was sitting behind me on the flight.  He’s producing live events all over, and had all kinds of music gossip and chitchat. We touched down half an hour late, then took forever to get into town by shuttle. I spent about an hour chatting with a fellow Aussie about cricket and such, which was nice, and then got to the hotel

Blog, I know you know me fairly well, and that I’ve lost my love of travel a little, but the hotel is very budget oriented and my room is so small I can’t leave my suitcase open, and there’s really nowhere much to put it (it currently sits on top of the tv), and that made me a little unhappy. However, Deb Biancotti is staying at the same hotel. We met up and went for a walk in the drizzly Manhattan night. We found a great Korean BBQ place around the block, grabbed dinner, and exchanged sardonic barbs for a while. It was fun

Today is breakfast with Garth, Books of Wonder, and dinner. I’ll keep you up to date…

Dear blog,

I managed to get a pretty good night’s sleep, and shed quite a it of jetlag. I woke up this morning, lazed around a bit, and then headed over to Haight-Ashbury for breakfast with the Shade’s Jeremy Lassen.

Jeremy had suggested we meet for brunch at The Blue Front Cafe, on Haight, and it was a great suggestion. It’s a small, comfortable place and perfect for spending a couple hours over omelettes or whatever discussing publishing and such, which we did.

After brunch I headed back to the hotel to catch up with Trevor, and to head out and get a new cell phone for the rest of my US visit. That took and hour. After that I crashed, the jetlag hitting me a bit like a brick. When I woke up, I shot off an apology to Jason, who I’d been supposed to see. I then skyped the family. It was our first real test, and after a few hiccups, the video conference went really well. I think it’ll help manage the homesickness, and keep me in touch with my girls.

Round 4.30pm, Cheryl and Kevin arrived at the hotel and we headed for some great Spanish food down near the Moscone Centre. It was a real blast from the past, because we kept walking past places where I’d spent time back in 1993 when I was in town for WorldCon. We even went past the restaurant (Chevy’s) where I Marianne and I shared our first meal. It was something. After a some very good food, we headed for BART (the local train system), which took us down to the Oakland Colliseum to see Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band.

Writing about music isn’t my forte, but it was really something. We took our seats around 7.15pm, and less than an hour later the houselights went down and the strains of “Radio Nowhere” crashed (a little muddily) out of the PA. From there, Springsteen and his well-drilled gang ran us through two and a half hours of rock ‘n’ roll as community celebration. While I’m no fan of 2002’s The Rising and am only getting to know material from this year’s Magic, most of the newer songs were great (and it was interesting to hear Rising tracks without the awful production). The highlights, though, were the oldies: “Badlands”, “Adam Raised a Can”, “The Ties That Bind”, “She’s the One”, “Backstreets”, “Born to Run”, “Dancing in the Dark”. It was…magic.

After that, an easy train trip back to the hotel, a little time to wind down, and then off to bed. I’m going to keep hoping Springsteen comes to Australia. I’ll definitely go. But, last night was special.

And today: on to American Airlines, six hours on a plane, and Manhattan. Tonight dinner with Garth and Deb. Yay! More soon.

Note: You can see the setlist for the Springsteen show here.

There’s almost too much to say about tonight. Yes, my ear was still a bit blocked and the mix was a bit muddy and they didn’t play “Jungleland”, but it was awesome! Highlights included a roaring ‘Badlands’, ‘She’s the One’, ‘Backstreets’, and a bunch more. A classic experience. The E Street Band remain a well-oiled machine, and Springsteen didn’t look like he was planning retirement any time soon. If I were here and could get tickets, I’d go tomorrow night. I hope he comes Down Under.  Maybe I’d get ‘Jungleland’ there.

Hi – As you all know, I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area right now. I just got a US cell phone. If we need to get in touch during this trip, drop me an email and I’ll send you the number – J