RIP Clarence Clemons

[RGMike]

apparently The Big Man suffered a stroke:

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/2011/06/source_confirms_clarence_clemo.html

[ggould]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/clarence_clemons_dies.html

[RGMike]

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/e-street-bands-clarence-clemons-dies-at-69-20110618

    

[Wayback]

Big Man, glad I got to see you perform many times since 1975:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-clarence-clemons-20110619,0,5551201,full.story

[Wayback]

In case you didn't see it, the official statement from Bruce about Clarence:
It is with overwhelming sadness that we inform our friends and fans that at 7:00pm, Saturday, June 18, our beloved friend and bandmate, Clarence Clemons passed away. The cause was complications from his stroke of last Sunday, June 12th.
Bruce Springsteen said of Clarence: "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."
 http://brucespringsteen.net/news/index.html

[Tinka Cat]

I saw Clarence in concert before I saw Bruce play live.  It was 1984 in DC.  Max Weinberg sat in on drums.  The guys were tuning up for Bruce's Born In The USA tour later that year.

I finally got to see Bruce at PacBell about 5 or 6 years ago. 

RIP

[RGMike]

FYI, Little Steven's weekly radio show will be a tribute to Clarence this week -- normally Steven's shows are taped weeks in advance but this hit too close to home for Steven to wait, so he put together a special show and it will air this weekend -- on The Bone here in SF Sun nite at 9

http://fmqb.com/article.asp?id=2222140

also available sometime next week via the website

http://undergroundgarage.com/

[RGMike]

Listening to Little Steven's tribute to Clarence right now. It's been posted on his Underground Garage website.  Sublime stuff.

ETA: a really terrific tribute. Interestingly, in the "thanks you"s at the end Dennis Constantine got a shout-out -- he oversees The Bone (which airs the show) as well as KFOG, I'm wondering if Steven was out here when Clarence passed and maybe recorded the show here.

[ggould]

This will only be of interest to a small handful, but it is pretty special to those of us.  I subscribe to this great podcast which downloads entire sets, warts and all, of historic Grateful Dead sets.  For me, I listen to it while riding my bike after work, and it's great.  Tonight, I started listening to the '89 earthquake benefit at Oakland Coliseum, and it features a lot of Clarence Clemons.  Here's the entire text from the DeadPod at http://deadshow.blogspot.com/2011/06/dead-showpodcast-for-62411.html

Dead Show/podcast for 6/24/11
This week the music world lost a true star - Clarence 'Big Man' Clemons.. Aside from his pivotal role in the E. Street Band Clarence was a friend of the Grateful Dead and played with Jerry Garcia as well. In honor of his passing, a listener of the Deadpod requested this show, and it is absolutely perfect to play this week. This was the longest segment Clarence played with the Grateful Dead and occurred on Dec. 6th, 1989 at the Earthquake Benefit that took place at the Oakland Coliseum. (This also happened to be the date of the 20th anniversary of the Altamont). I thought I would bring you the second set because that's where Clarence sat in with the band on the majority of the set .. I could be persuaded to play the first set next week.. I think you'll find this a great set.. I'm personally very fond of the Standing on the Moon, but I think Clarence adds some great licks on the Ship of Fools as well...

12/6/89 - Grateful Dead
Oakland Coliseum - Oakland, CA
Earthquake Relief Benefit

Set 2:
Scarlet Begonias ->
Sugar Magnolia ->
Ship Of Fools* ->
Terrapin Station ->
Drums ->
Space* ->
The Wheel* ->
All Along The Watchtower* ->
Standing On The Moon* ->
Sunshine Daydream*
(Encore) Black Muddy River*

* With Clarence Clemons

You can listen to this week's Deadpod here:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/deadshow/deadpod062411.mp3