{"id":2384,"date":"2009-10-21T23:54:03","date_gmt":"2009-10-22T03:54:03","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-11-01T15:10:27","modified_gmt":"2012-11-01T19:10:27","slug":"stations-of-the-boss-3-bruce-falls-the-f","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/stations-of-the-boss-3-bruce-falls-the-f\/","title":{"rendered":"Stations of The Boss, 3: Bruce Falls the First Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/p>\n
Lean on me.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Artist Hans Wheeler<\/strong>, of Dayton, Ohio, chose the iconic image of The Boss<\/strong> leaning on The Big Man<\/strong> for support during the trying times of His lawsuit with original manager Mike Appel<\/a><\/strong>. Wheeler’s original work of art,<\/em> Bruce Falls the First Time, follows the jump!<\/em>
\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n
Bruce Falls the First Time, by Hans Wheeler<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“I revisited the scriptures, or should I say a February 1982 issue of Backstreets<\/em>,” explains Wheeler, “for inspiration.” The following lines from a piece entitled “He’s the One” stood out for the artist.<\/p>\n

V. We adore Thee, O Boss, and we praise Thee.
\nR. Because by Thy holy axe Thou hast redeemed the world.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“You’ve got to consider,” continued Wheeler, as he took a sip of hot chocolate while seated at a vintage diner-style kitchen table, “that the Appel lawsuit issue that was developing was the first real test of The Boss. His band was already being torn apart by the years spent on The Road. Certainly, upon the release of Born to Run<\/em> He’d been crowned as The New Dylan<\/strong> and The Future of Rock<\/strong>, and but He had lost key band members and a great amount of bodily fluids. He was so weakened that He could scarcely rip off the solo in His new album’s title track, and yet He had to carry this great load upon His shoulders. Appel’s attorneys had struck Him rudely, and thus He fell several times in His journey.” <\/p>\n

Among other E Street Band mates, it was The Big Man, Clarence Clemons, who was most willing to take on His burdens. Wheeler cites the following passage from Clemons’ 2008 autobiography, No Small Parts for The Big Man<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

As they were setting up the lights for the Born to Run<\/em> shoot, I basically told him, “Bossman, it is not the weight of Appel and his attorneys, but of my bum notes, which has made Thee suffer so much pain. Ah, by the merits of this first fall, deliver me from the misfortune of ‘Mad Dog.’<\/a>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clemons promised not to miss his entry note on “Thunder Road” ever again, and as a further show of loyalty and support even agreed to stop complaining about having to shake a tambourine, when the song called for it. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n
The Artist at rest.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lean on me. Artist Hans Wheeler, of Dayton, Ohio, chose the iconic image of The Boss leaning on The Big Man for support during the trying times of His lawsuit with original manager Mike Appel. Wheeler’s original work of art, Bruce Falls the First Time, follows the jump!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[213,52],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}