A long time ago in another lifetime, I was
a freshman at the University of Colorado in Boulder. I was an aeronautical engineering student – a
folly if there ever was one. As such, I
lived in a dorm full of engineering students.
On the bottom floor there was a common room, in which the only TV in the
entire dorm was located. One of the
rituals some of my fellow residents and I had before dinner was to watch Kung
Fu. There was no reason why – it was
just something to do after classes and before dinner. For some reason, we started talking about
music. There were a lot of guys in my
dorm who were from out-of-state, usually the East Coast. One such guy said that he thought “Bruce
Springsteen is the Second Messiah”. To
show you how long ago this was, his most current album was his fifth, The
River. I kept my opinion to myself
until a guy from Michigan walked in the room.
When he walked in, I told the guy who was singing Springsteen’s praises
to ask the Michigan guy who the “Second Messiah” was. I’m from the Midwest – I knew what he’d say,
so I kinda set up the guy from the East Coast.
When the question came out, I heard the response I expected – “everybody
knows that Bob Seger is the Second Messiah!”
We didn’t hear a peep from the East Coast guy for the rest of the
evening.
When I went to Pueblo County High School in
the late 1970s/early 1980s, during which time I was on the track team. One of our “weights” guys [shot put, discus]
was a guy named Mike Foulk. He was a big
Bob Seger fan at a time when disco and Michael Jackson were all the rage. Whenever we went to a track meet [which was
usually by a shitty school bus], we heard Bob Seger wherever we went whether we
wanted to or not. Mike had a boom box,
and in 1980 he wore out his copy of Against the Wind. For reasons that escape me, it seemed his
favorite song [it was definitely the “most played”] was The Horizontal Bop. It was the worst song on the album, but my
guess it was his favorite because of the subject matter [wink wink, nudge
nudge]. Mike is no longer with us as he
lost his fight with diabetes several years ago.
We weren’t exactly close [at best we were ‘cordial’], but these days
every time I hear a Bob Seger song, I think of him.
I had the chance to see Bob Seger in
concert twice [1983, 1987]. Both times
were in Denver’s McNichols Arena [that place is a parking lot now for the
stadium where the Broncos play]. The
first time I saw him I was by myself – I had a seat at the back of the arena,
but at least I wasn’t in the nosebleed section.
I remember it happened to be on the day Muddy Waters died. The two girls who were sitting next to me
were kind enough to let me use their binoculars every now and then to get a
better view. I don’t remember all the
songs that were played [I didn’t keep track of setlists then, and this was way
before the Internet]. I definitely
remember Her Strut, Boomtown Blues and Shame on the Moon. He played piano [We’ve Got Tonight]
and he played some guitar. It was a good
show. He played some songs that I wanted
to hear, and he missed others. That’s
how it goes at concerts.
The second time I saw them Carol was with
me, and I had much better seats – front row, on the floor. Getting those kinds of seats was quite a coup
in those days because back then, you had to queue up early in the morning [or
sometimes the night before] at your local Select-a-Seat outlet when the tickets
of the show went on sale. It was a helluva
show – Alto Reed [the sax player] nearly ended up in our laps once. He did a slide on his knees across the stage
and had to catch himself before he fell.
We were ready to catch him, but thankfully we didn’t have to [it was
about an 8-10-foot drop]. As it was
still the pre-Internet days, we had no idea what Seger and his band were going
to play. I was hoping to hear something
that I hadn’t heard from him in 1983, and Seger didn’t disappoint. Hearing him play Come To Poppa [my
favorite Seger song, even though he didn’t write it] was a pleasant and welcome
surprise. He played several songs from
the “new” album [Like a Rock], and I remember his encore was Night
Moves and Get Out of Denver.
We don’t sit that close to stages anymore. I value my hearing more today than I did when
I was “indestructible.” I had the opportunity
to see Bruce Springsteen at Mile High Stadium in 1985. Having seen both him and Seger, I can say
Seger put on a better show. The Michigan
guy was right.
As is my wont, I like to share my iPod
playlists. I know that whenever I play
it, somewhere Mike Foulk will be smiling.
Night Moves [Night
Moves, 1976]
Come to Poppa [Night
Moves, 1976]
Even Now [The
Distance, 1982]
Makin' Thunderbirds [The Distance, 1982]
Boomtown Blues [The
Distance, 1982]
Her Strut [Against
the Wind, 1980]
Shame on the Moon [The Distance, 1982]
Miami [Like
a Rock, 1986]
The Ring [Like
a Rock, 1986]
House Behind a House [The Distance, 1982]
Little Victories [The Distance, 1982]
Like a Rock [Like
a Rock, 1986]
Turn the Page
[Live] [Live Bullet, 1976]
The Fire Down Below [Night Moves, 1976]
Old Time Rock and Roll [Stranger in Town, 1978]
Still the Same
[Stranger in Town, 1978]
You'll Accomp'ny Me [Against the Wind, 1980]
Against the Wind [Against the Wind, 1980]
Tightrope [Like
a Rock, 1986]
Take a Chance [The
Fire Inside, 1991]
Hey Gypsy [Ride
Out, 2014]
Sightseeing [The
Fire Inside, 1991]
Detroit Made [Ride
Out, 2014]
The Devil's Right Hand [Ride Out, 2014]
California Stars [Ride Out, 2014]
Gracile [I
Knew You When, 2017]
I Knew You When
[I Knew You When, 2017]
Blue Ridge [I
Knew You When, 2017]
The Fire Inside
[The Fire Inside, 1991]
Manhattan [It's
a Mystery, 1995]
New Coat of Paint [The Fire Inside, 1991]
Tomorrow [Greatest
Hits 2, 2003]
The Mountain [The
Fire Inside, 1991]
Downtown Train
[Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets, 2011]
Blind Love [The
Fire Inside, 1991]
Glenn Song [I
Knew You When, 2017]
Who’ll Stop the Rain [John Fogerty - Wrote a Song For Everyone, 2013]
Travelin' Man -> Beautiful Loser [Live] [Live Bullet, 1976]
I've Been Working [Live] [Live Bullet, 1976]
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man [Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, 1969]
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