E Street Keyboardist Danny Federici Returns, Springsteen Books Acoustic Show

Last night E Street Band keyboardist Danny Federici — sidelined from the tour since last November as he recovers from melanoma — made a surprise appearance midway through the Bruce Springsteen show at the Canseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The founding E Streeter played on "The Promised Land," "4th of July, Asbury Park" and "Spirit In The Night" during the main set and later returned to the stage for the five-song encore. Steve Van Zandt told Rolling Stone last week that Federici was doing great and his recovery had been "a bit miraculous." In other Springsteen news, he's playing a rare solo acoustic show at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank New Jersey on May 7th. Tickets are available through an online auction with a minimum bid of $1,000. That may be a bit steep, but all proceeds benefit the theater, which hasn't been upgraded in over eighty years. Bids as high as $4,000 have already come in from as far as Italy and Scotland. The auction ends on April 2nd.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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