Newsletter archive

Bruce Hornsby newsletter – Summer 2000

More from Melissa Reagan’s newsletters, sent direct from Bruce Hornsby’s office in the 1990s. Links have been added where appropriate to add context.

Here Come The Noisemakers

After years of relentless badgering from countless enthusiasts hanging around tour buses, backstage skin-and-grin schmooz-a-thons, airports, bathrooms, Taco Bells and hotel lobbies across America, Bruce is finally releasing his first live album, entitled Here Come The Noisemakers. The title comes from a phrase repeated nightly by a regular customer at The Cave club in Virginia Beach, Virginia circa 1979 in a rather derisive tone as the Bruce Hornsby Band appeared to play their 9-1:30 am gig (He was not a fan, perferring Skynyrd’s “Ooh That Smell” to the BHB’s originals and renderings of Steely Dan’s “Aja”). The 2-CD collection features approximately twenty songs (give or take a few, it’s difficult to count when impromptu medleys abound in a standard BH show) taken from shows in Oakland CA, Austin TX (Austin City Limits PBS-TV Special), Washington DC (BET Jazz Central TV Show), Kalamazoo MI, Asheville NC, Charlotte NC, Dayton OH, and the 1999 Woodstock Festival, from November 1998 to August 1999. The record will be released sometime in August or September 2000, and sales are expected to be in the Santana-Supranatural range.

Bruce & Spike – “Bamboozled”

Bruce has written and performed the end-title song for the new Spike Lee film “Bamboozled,” starring Damon Wayans and Savion Glover, tentatively scheduled for release in September 2000. The song, “Shadowland” (the companion piece to “Shadow Hand”) is a piano trio song, with Bruce, J.V. Collier on bass and Bonny (Honey Bunny Sunny -Don’t Bulljive me Bruce it ain’t Funny) Rafael Bonaparte endearing himself to all on drums. Bruce joins the artist known again as Prince and Stevie Wonder on what looks to be a formidable soundtrack line-up to be contended with.

Furthur Festival

Once again the old familiar chestnuts, favorite songs and comforting one-chord jams will be trotted out for another stroll down counter culture memory lane as the embattled warriors of Grateful Dead land, bruised and battered by the internecine warfare of the past two grim seasons of Richard Dawson-esque family feuding embark on a month-long tour of the American shed circuit. The tour is slated to run for four weeks, August 23 – September 24, with the Other Ones band joined by Ziggy Marley for a rousing 4 hour dance party. The Other Ones this year consist of Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bruce Hornsby, Steve Kimock, Mark Karan, Alphonso Johnson on bass and a drummer to be named later.

Telluride & JVC-From Bluegrass to Jazz

The band returns to one of Bruce’s favorite musical events, the Telluride CO Bluegrass Festival June 15-18. Bruce and band will close the Festival Sunday night (June 18th) and Bruce will most likely sit in with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones on Saturday night. Bruce is also performing at “Telluride at Red Rocks,” June 13th at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison CO, along with the aforementioned Flecksie Boy, Jackson Browne and Susan Tedeschi Martin & Wood. One week later the band will be in New Yok City sharing the bill with the fabled and lionized Maceo Parker at the Beacon Theatre, Friday night June 23, playing for the 2000 JVC Jazz Festival. One night later the band will rest their weary bones in the hot springs of Saratoga NY before playing at the JVC Saratoga Jazz Festival.

New Album

Around all this extracurricular activity the seventh studio album is being put together. Bruce, J.V. and the aforementioned Bonny Bunny Nappy Bonaparte recorded tracks for two weeks in January at the Hair Pub For Men recording studio in Williamsburg VA, and Bias Recording in Washington DC, with Wayne Pooley and Doug “La Fraiche” Derryberry at the helm steering the aural ship and driving the porcelain bus.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

As Eric Clapton and Robbie Robertson undulated nearby, Bruce accompanied Bonnie Raitt on her two-song performance celebrating her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel Balroom in February. Robertson was heard to exclaim “Pshaw” at the prospect of eating the gourmet fare served to all rock notables in attendance, and Bruce felt young as he exited along with scores of tuxedo-clad industry veterans just barely missing the fifth blues guitar solo on the all-star jam rendition of “Route 66.”

National Anthem

Bruce and Branford Marsalis were seen (but not heard) on TNT playing the “Star Spangled Banner” at the First Union Center in Philadelphia PA for the sixth game of the 76ers-Indiana Pacers playoff game. Tears came to Branford’s eyes during the poignant, sensitive piano solo section, which really bothered Bruce, who hates it when Branford cries, especially at night.

Dick’s Picks

The latest Dick’s Picks release, Volume 17, is a 3-CD showcase of the Boston Gardens Grateful Dead, September 1991 performance, when Bruce was playing with the group. This set marks Bruce’s 4th Grateful Dead record, the other being Infrared Roses, Dick’s Picks Vol. 9-Madison Square Garden-September 1990, and the 5-CD box set So Many Roads which was recently certified gold.

Sarah Evans

Speaking of chestnuts, RCA Recording Artist Sarah Evans recently recorded one of Bruce’s venerable old ones, “Every Little Kiss” for her upcoming release. Bruce went to Nashville to play piano and Wurlitzer electric piano. Old cohorts Randy Scruggs and Matt “The Stilt” Chamberlain also played on the track, which required only one take to complete. Release date remains a great mystery but a date to be reckoned with all the same.

Keith Jarrett Tribute

In April the Keith Jarrett tribute record “As Long As You’re Living Yours” was released on BMG Classics. The sounds of boots quaking and teeth gnashing were heard loud and clear from the Spears and Aguilera camps as massive sales were expected. Bruce’s New Orleans party track “Backhand” is the first cut on the record which includes interpretations by such titans as John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Don Byron, Stanley deGasperis, Leonard Grapple, Manny Liebowitz and more.

VH-1’s Before They Were Rock Stars

Sports was the thematic thread uniting the disparate entities thrown together for an edition of Before They Were Rock Stars, VH-1’s stroll-through-old-high-school-yearbooks series featuring funny old pictures of popular music figures. Lionel Richie, Henry Rollins and Bruce were the former-jocks-during musos featured; Richie on the Tuskegee Institute tennis team, Rollins on the high school baseball team, and Bruce on the high school basketball team. Bruce was also shown in the Oceanography Club picture and in the Cross Country team picture sweating his ass off after placing a stellar 16th in a field of 19 in the race run minutes before.

Contact Information

Snail mail: P.O. Box 3545 Williamsburg VA 23187