LONG BRANCH, US: <\/p>\n
Rock legend Bruce Springsteen is one of New Jersey’s most famous native sons, and the Garden State is honoring The Boss with a new museum that celebrates his legacy and the history of American music.<\/p>\n
The venue is located in Long Branch, where the 20-time Grammy winner was born. It’s just a stone’s throw from Asbury Park, the once blue-collar coastal town that was the icon’s stomping ground and shaped his musical identity.<\/p>\n
Spread over two levels, the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, which opens Saturday, has a floor dedicated to US genres including blues, country, hip-hop and jazz.<\/p>\n
There is also a heavy emphasis on celebrated voices of protest in music including Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, Public Enemy, Kendrick Lamar and Springsteen himself.<\/p>\n
“I’m the one of a long line of messengers,” Springsteen — a leading voice of opposition to President Donald Trump — says in a 25-minute film shown to visitors on arrival.<\/p>\n
‘Born in the USA’<\/p>\n
“The stories that Bruce tells in his book ‘Born to Run,’ and of course in his lyrics, really became the inspiration for a lot of design choices here,” said Jared Gilbert, an associate at the CookFox architectural firm, which led the project.<\/p>\n
Exhibits include a gold jacket that belonged to Elvis Presley, a saxophone used by John Coltrane, an Eddie Van Halen guitar, and a Chuck D cap.<\/p>\n
The items were loaned to the center by the artists or their estates, said executive director Bob Santelli, a close friend of Springsteen.<\/p>\n
“It was relatively easy for me to go and make a phone call and say we’d like to borrow this or like to borrow that,” Santelli told AFP.<\/p>\n
“Bruce’s name goes a long way.”<\/p>\n
The museum, which cost $53 million and will host Springsteen’s archives, was largely financed through donations from “Springsteen fans with means,” Santelli added.<\/p>\n
Listening stations and touchscreens allow visitors to navigate the full range of styles and eras, although there are notable omissions such as disco, funk, house and techno.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately we were running out of space,” said collections director Melissa Kozlowski.<\/p>\n
Upstairs, the story of Springsteen’s first concerts on the campus of Monmouth University is told.<\/p>\n
The formation of his E Street Band follows, as does his breakout in the mid-1970s, and the triumph of his 1984 album “Born in the USA.”<\/p>\n
‘Chimes of Freedom’<\/p>\n
A large section is devoted to the album’s title track, still mistakenly regarded as a patriotic anthem by some, even though it was written to condemn US treatment of Vietnam War veterans.<\/p>\n
A virtual library brings together some of the key books for the singer, who was a college dropout and recounts in a video that reading only became a passion when he was 28.<\/p>\n
In a replica studio, visitors mix their own tracks using a mixing desk.<\/p>\n
Springsteen completed a 20-date US tour in May, using each appearance to rail against Trump, but the president’s name does not appear in the exhibits.<\/p>\n
“We strive to tell an apolitical, non-political story,” said Santelli.<\/p>\n
“This is a very important subject in this country, which is why we have a new exhibit, a temporary exhibit, that will open with the building that will be there for about six months.” AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONG BRANCH, US: Rock legend Bruce Springsteen is one of New Jersey’s most famous native sons, and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[213442,93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-498403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-bruce-springsteen-music-centre-set-to-open-in-new-jersey","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}