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Frank Stefanko was working in a South Jersey meatpacking plant when the call came. It was 1978, and Bruce Springsteen had been looking at photos that Stefanko shot of their mutual friend, singer Patti Smith, and figured that the then-unknown lenser would be perfect to do the cover of his next album, “Darkness on the Edge of Town.”

“We went for the look of an old Kodachrome snapshot you find at the bottom of a drawer,” said Stefanko, now 71 and residing in Palmyra, NJ.

Over the next 39 years, the photographer bonded with Springsteen — “We’re both blue-collar, working-class guys” — and shot thousands of images of the star, who became a friend. Stefanko’s new book, “Bruce Springsteen: Further Up the Road” (Wall of Sound Editions, out in November), and photo exhibition, opening Nov. 9 at Soho’s Morrison Hotel Gallery, celebrate their decades of working together. Here, he shares some of the true stories behind his iconic photos.

Springsteen’s recording studio, 2017

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Frank Stefanko

Stefanko’s most recent shoot with the singer took place this past April in Colts Neck, NJ. He captured his favorite subject, now 68, unadorned — showing the face of a man who has really lived. But when the photographer’s book publisher decided to make this shot the back cover of “Further Up the Road” — and contrast it with a youthful image of the singer on the front — Stefanko became concerned. “It showed a big difference” [over the years], he said. “Bruce trusts my judgment, but I sent the photos, side by side, to [him]. I wanted to make sure he was OK with it. I got an email back that Bruce loves the shots. I was elated.”

New Jersey rental house, 1982

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Frank Stefanko

In 1982, Springsteen sequestered himself in a rented Monmouth County, NJ, carriage house to make the stark “Nebraska” album, unaccompanied by his usual band. Stefanko photographed the singer “in the bedroom where he recorded the album using a four-track recorder. You have the paint-by-number [art], a cheap lamp and that bedspread, which all make it look like a roadside motel room.”
Stefanko listened to Springsteen’s tape of the album and followed along with the lyrics that were written on pages inside, of all things, a Snoopy loose-leaf binder.

Shellow’s Luncheonette, 1978

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Frank Stefanko / Courtesy of Bruce Springsteen: Further Up The Road

Over the course of a month spent shooting Springsteen for “Darkness on the Edge of Town” in 1978, Stefanko brought the musician and his band to the old-school Shellow’s Luncheonette in East Camden, NJ. Springsteen assumed a familiar position in the restaurant’s phone booth. During the singer’s teen years, hanging out in Asbury Park, that “was a big thing in Bruce’s life,” said Stefanko. “He had no telephone at home and spent a lot of time in phone booths, talking to his girlfriends on cold winter nights.”

The photographer also recalled the tight-knit camaraderie of the E. Street Band. “When Miami Steve [a k a guitarist Steven Van Zandt, far left] rolled his eyes like Groucho Marx, Bruce would start cracking up,” Stefanko said. Sax player Clarence Clemons (second from left) challenged him to a round of chess while an assistant worked out the lighting between shots. “He was a hell of a chess player,” Stefanko remembered.

The photographer billed Springsteen $369 for the month of shooting, but the generous singer ended up giving him a four-figure check for the work.

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Stefanko shoots Springsteen on Springsteen’s property in Colts Neck.Daniel J Reed // Courtesy of Bruce Springsteen: Further Up The Road

Outside Stefanko’s house in Haddonfield, NJ

On the second day that they spent shooting together, Springsteen drove to Stefanko’s house in his beloved 1960s Corvette. Stefanko made a single exposure of his subject leaning on the car. The shot became so iconic that it eventually became the cover of Springsteen’s 2016 autobiography, “Born To Run.” Stefanko thinks the appeal resides in the picture unintentionally illustrating a snatch of lyrics from the song “Thunder Road”: “From your front porch to my front seat/The door’s open but the ride ain’t free.”

“It’s the whole mystique of the girl coming down the front porch,” the photographer said. “It’s like he’s standing there, waiting for her.”

http://nypost.com/2017/10/15/t...-springsteen-photos/

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The SPL Rocks!

Prego che tu stia danzando con San Pietro alle porte perlacee del cielo





Pulled up to my house today
Came and took my little girl away!
Giants Stadium 8/28/03



Oats

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