Bruce works with Spike Lee and works on the “tentatively titled” Spirit Trail. Continuing a look at the Bruce Hornsby newsletter archive, sent by Melissa Reagan direct from Bruce’s office in the 1990s/early 2000s. Links have been added where appropriate to add context.
1997 Summer Tour
Bruce and the band hit the road for a seven week run of shows, starting June 14 with the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and ending with a concert in Flagstaff, AZ on August 4. For the second year in a row, the Furthur Festival rears its head, starting June 20 in West Palm Beach and continuing for 28 shows all across the country.
This year’s Furthur Festival lineup includes Bruce’s band, the Black Crowes, Bob Weir’s group Ratdog, Mickey Hart’s band Planet Drum, moe, Arlo Guthrie, and Sherri Jackson. As before, Bruce and band will play an hour set and then sit in with other groups. The itinerary detail below provides Bruce’s set times as known at newsletter printing time.
| Date, City | Venue | Detail |
| 6/14
Los Angeles, CA |
Hollywood Bowl | Playboy Jazz Festival |
| 6/15
San Diego, CA |
4th and B | FF (8:00) |
| 6/20
West Palm Beach, FL |
Coral Sky Pavilion | FF (8:00) |
| 6/22
Atlanta, GA |
Lakewood Amphitheatre | FF (8:00) |
| 6/23
Charlotte, NC |
Blockbuster Pavilion | FF (8:00) |
| 6/24
Raleigh, NC |
Walnut Creek Amphitheatre | FF (8:00) |
| 6/26
Virginia Beach, VA |
Virginia Beach Amphitheatre | FF (8:00) |
| 6/27
Bristow, VA |
Nissan Pavilion | FF (8:00) |
| 6/28
Camden, NJ |
Sony Entertainment Center | FF (5:05) |
| 6/30
Scranton PA |
Montage Mountain Performing A.C. | FF (5:05) |
| 7/1
Mansfield, MA |
Great Woods | FF (5:05) |
| 7/3
Jersey City, NJ |
Liberty State Park | FF (5:05) |
| 7/4
Springfield, MA |
Riverside Park | FF (5:05) |
| 7/6
Saratoga Springs, NY |
Saratoga Performing A.C. | FF (5:05) |
| 7/8
Buffalo, NY |
Darien Lake Amphitheatre | FF (5:05) |
| 7/9
Toronto, Ontario, CAN |
Molson Amphitheatre | FF (5:05) |
| 7/11
Hershey, PA |
Hershey Park Stadium | FF (5:05) |
| 7/12
Columbus, OH |
Polaris Amphitheatre | FF (8:00) |
| 7/13
Detroit, MI |
Pine Knob Music Theatre | FF (8:00) |
| 7/15
Pittsburgh, PA |
Star Lake Amphitheatre | FF (8:00) |
| 7/16
Cincinnati, OH |
Riverbend Amphitheatre | FF (8:00) |
| 7/18
Troy, WI |
Alpine Valley Music Center | FF (8:00) |
| 7/19
Chicago, IL |
The World, Tinley Park | FF (5:05) |
| 7/20
St. Louis, MO |
Riverport Amphitheatre | FF (5:05) |
| 7/22
Indianapolis, IN |
Deer Creek Music Center | FF (5:05) |
| 7/25
Somerset, WI (St.Paul, MN) |
Rivers Edge Park | FF (5:05) |
| 7/27
Denver, CO |
Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre | FF (5:05) |
| 7/31
Portland, OR |
Portland Meadows | * FF (5:05) |
| 8/2
Mountain View, CA |
Shoreline Amphitheatre | FF (5:05) |
| 8/3
Irvine, CA |
Irvine Meadows | FF (5:05) |
| 8/4
Flagstaff, AZ |
TBA | FF (5:05)
Band |
Fall Dates
A few special fall dates have already been booked, running the gamut of different types of “Bruce Gigs”: On September 11, Bruce plays a short solo performance at Madison Square Garden in NYC for a special affair called “The 100 Greatest Sports Moments in New York History”.
On September 26, the band will return to one of its favorite haunts, the Britt Pavilion in Jacksonville, OR, for a long outdoor concert. On October 9, Bruce and the band will perform with the Roanoke Symphony in Roanoke, Virginia, the first orchestral performance since the 1994 University of Miami benefit concert.
Bruce returns to Yoshi’s in Oakland, CA for a week of solo piano concerts November 18-23. Yoshi’s is a popular jazz club and Japanese restaurant/sushi bar in the Bay area that has just relocated to a new waterfront area of Oakland. Bruce will perform two sets per night for a run of six nights.
Internet
The best way to stay up-to-date on tour info is to check into the decidedly unglamorous and low-tech “Official Bruce Hornsby” site at http://members.aol.com/BrHornsby, but there are several much more interesting unofficial sites out there if you search around. One ingenious person is running a “name that tune” contest to correctly identify 6 song segments from six of Bruce’s live concerts, snippets of which can be down-loaded: http://super.zippo.com/-
Sixth Record
Mixing problems, record company personnel changes, the summer tour schedule, and the writing and recording of new songs have delayed the release of the sixth record. Bruce says, “It’ll come out when it feels right for it to come out.” Tentatively titled “Spirit Trail”, the album includes 12 songs at this point, all in various stages of completion. Canadian violinist Ashley MacIsaac contributed to one track, “The Great Divide”, and producer-guitarist John Leventhal has contributed to virtually every track. The great mixer Bob Clearmountain is mixing several tracks in Los Angeles, Andy Wallace has mixed several tracks in NYC, and Wayne Pooley is working his sonic magic in Virginia.
Furthur Festival concertgoers will get a preview of the new record as the band will be playing songs from the new album at the shows.
Randy Scruggs Album
Bruce wrote a new song, “Crown of Jewels“, sang, and played piano and organ on the track for Randy’s upcoming solo album. The release date is unknown at this time.
Crossover
Bruce has finally “crossed over” to the R&B chart as the rapper E-40 re-recorded “The Way It Is” music and wrote new words to create a new rap song called “Things’ll Never Change”.
The single went to #4 on the Billboard rap chart, #19 on the Billboard R&B chart, and #29 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bruce is listed as one of five (!) co-writers on the song, which can be found on E-40’s album, “The Hall of Game”.
Garcia Tribute Concert
A Jerry Garcia tribute concert is being organized by the Rex Foundation, a charitable organization founded by the Grateful Dead. A fall date in the greater metropolitan New York area is planned. Bruce and his band will be the house band for the concert.
National Anthem
Numerous people have inquired about obtaining a video version of Bruce’s national anthem. We now have a source! The Baltimore Orioles have released “Cal Ripken-2131”, a video chronicling the games when Cal tied and broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak. Featured in its entirety on the video is Bruce and Branford’s national anthem rendition performed before the streak-breaking game on September 6, 1995 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The video can be purchased in the three Orioles stores located in Washington D.C., York, PA, and at Camden Yards. Unfortunately, mail-order is unavailable.
Odds and Ends
Crown Books has just released Spike Lee’s book Best Seat in the House-A Basketball Memoir, which includes references to Bruce and a picture of Bruce, Spike, and Branford Marsalis at “the Garden” in NYC.
Chaka Khan’s greatest hits album “Epiphany” contains “Love Me Still”, the song cowritten with Bruce from Spike Lee’s film “Clockers”
Bruce performed the classic Elton John song “Burn Down the Mission” as a tribute to Bernie Taupin, the great lyricist for Elton, at the annual ASCAP Awards May 19 in Los Angeles. Bernie Taupin received the “Golden Word” award from the venerable performing rights organization.
Bruce performed a solo piano concert at the George Mason Performing Arts Center in Fairfax, VA in April. The concert benefitted Virginia Special Olympics.
Two new popular music reference books released recently feature substantial “Bruce” sections. The Encyclopedia of Rock Stars (what a title…) contained facts that even WE didn’t know about Bruce’s career…such as English single chart positions over the years.
Rock: The Essential Album Guide by Gary Graff includes, along with a section on Bruce, a fairly astute section called “Influences Index”, listing Bruce as having been influenced by Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Keith Jarrett, and Steely Dan–good material for discussion and mindless debate. The section also lists Ben Folds Five as having been influenced by Bruce. Bruce doesn’t hear much of himself in Ben’s music, although he does play the piano. Ben gives the piano a little more thorough physical beating, from what we understand (and good luck to him).