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Bruce Springsteen was among six honorees Monday night at the
library's annual “Library Lions” gala, which pays tribute to
“outstanding achievements” in arts, culture, letters and
scholarship. Others receiving medals were producer-writer Shonda
Rhimes and authors James Patterson, Daniel Kehlmann and Louise
Erdrich and author-musician James McBride, with whom Springsteen
exchanged hugs and greetings shortly before guests were seated
for dinner.
Held in the grand auspices of the main research room of the 5th
Avenue branch in Manhattan, the ceremony was brief, and without
acceptance speeches. But NYPL President Anthony Marx promised a
“special treat” was upcoming, and a few minutes later
reintroduced Springsteen, his jacket now off and a guitar in
hand.
“I've played fireman's fairs. I've played bowling alleys. I've
played pizza parlors,” Springsteen related to the hundreds of
attendees in his raspy drawl. “I've played hockey rinks. I've
played weddings. I've played Bar Mitzvahs. I've played insane
asylums. I've played football stadiums.”
“But I have never played a (expletive) library.”
After laughter and applause, Springsteen settled into a slow,
soulful performance of “Thunder Road,” scatting the closing
passage once filled by the saxophone of Clarence Clemons. To a
standing ovation and familiar calls of “Bruuuuce,” he wished
everyone good night and added a well-placed message, “Read a
book!”
Springsteen has a history of surprise performances. At the New
York Film Festival in late September, he turned up after a
screening of the biopic “Deliver Me from Nowhere,” starring
Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen, and sang “Land of Hopes and
Dreams.”
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