I know there are a few Bruce fans on TSIS, and I didn't see a thread yet, so...
My dad texted me about a half hour ago saying Clarence was gone... I can't believe it. He was conscious and everything. Man I can't believe it He seemed almost immortal.

RIP, Clarence Clemons.

I am personally blasting some Jungleland, in memory of the Big Man. I gotta wonder about the future of Bruce and E-Street... missing 2 of their former members... and what's E-Street gonna be like with no big man... wow...

The soul of rock n roll.

Once born to run ....one never stops running...


Cheers big man.

Teardrops on the city... RIP Big Man

this fella played with lady gaga right?

so sad that his last studio thing was with her...

No. He was Clarence Clemons. The heart and soul of the E street band, thus....the soul of rock n roll

But VinylGuy is right...the last performance he did was with her on American Idol, too

Yeah, VG, you're thinking of Clarence Darrow.

zip it.

Listening to Live At Hammersmith then will listen to Darkness dvd.

I remember the first time I really got Bruce. I would have been 16 or 17, summer of 81 or 82, at the drive in, baked out of my brains, lying on the hood of my car up against the windshield. It was between movies and one of my buddies slipped side two of Born TO Run in the cassette deck. When the sax solo came on during Jungleland, I swear I travelled the stratosphere. From that moment on I was hooked.

Saw him with Bruce, saw him solo with the Red Bank Rockers. He was and always will be The Big Man. In song he ripped the big city in half, today he's ripped amillion hearts in half.

RIP Big Man.

RIP Clarence. You were definitely one of a kind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQuX6bHBe9Y

They always kill the black guy first....racists.

I can't believe I laughed at that.

during this difficult time, remember to be excellent to each other, and party on dudes.

THE BIG MAN IS GONE

On the cover of 1975’s Born To Run, it is saxophonist Clarence Clemons that Bruce Springsteen leans on, the pair caught in a moment of laughing camaraderie. For decades, Clarence was the rock on which, at least subtly & psychologically, the entire E Street Band set their foot upon, a presence as much spiritual as it was musical, a rock ‘n’ roll shaman for one of the genre’s great tribes. Clemons suffered a massive stroke on June 12, 2011 and passed away due to complications on Saturday, June 18th. He is gone and the E Street Band and the world in general is a little poorer, a little sadder without him.

Bruce Springsteen issued the following statement on his website:

Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.

Clemons was the classic R&B thrust inside the blue-collar grind of his band, a touch of rough-brewed class that surfaced in saxophone work that sang what words could not in Springsteen’s songs. On the last full E Street tour, Clarence spent much of each show seated on a cushy throne onstage. It seemed an appropriate prop for the man, a sign one was in the presence of royalty. Clemons’ magic touched not only E Street but countless others, his energy and chops infusing tunes by the likes of Aretha Franklin, Todd Rundgren and even most recently Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory.” Clemons was someone folks wanted to be near, someone imbued with a richness and understanding of things that goes beyond our ability to explain. In music and memory he will live on and on, even if his throne will forever more remain empty. (Dennis Cook)

I'm not a huge Springsteen fan - I mean I really like his music and I'm from NJ so it's kind of built in but when I heard Clarence Clemons died I was actually sad - that almost never happens to me when I hear about a celebrity death. RIP.

I only got to see him once back on the Magic tour, way up in the last rows of an arena in DC, but I'm grateful I got to see Born To Run one time like that -- house lights up near the end of the gig, 20,000 people going nuts, and the Big Man wailing.

AKA he was the black dude.

I forwarded your quip to the author, I didn't want your wit solely wasted on RM.

I have a feeling the E Street Band has been billed as such for the final time.

Let's get this sumbitch to 5 pages, shall we? Can't let Ryan Dunn take all the death glory.