Random Excellence: Frank Stefanko

Frank Stefanko, Corvette Winter

From what I read about it, this is one of the most famous pictures of Bruce Springsteen, showing the singer as a young man with the Corvette he bought with the proceeds from Born to Run (and still has). It was taken by his friend Frank Stefanko, and is also one of Frank's best-known photographs. Strangely, I had never seen it before the other day, when I happened across it while researching Southside Johnny's Hearts of Stone. Frank Stefanko took the picture for the cover of that album too, among many others. Frank has had a longtime working relationship with Springsteen and with Patti Smith, and has made numerous photographs of both.

The JPEG shows a rendering of an oversize limited-edition platinum/palladium signed and numbered by Frank that Morrison Hotel Gallery is currently offering for $13,000. You can read more about the picture—one of Morrison Hotel's most popular—in the listing.

I've never been a big Springsteen fan, due to massive overexposure to Born to Run at the hands of my dastardly freshman dorm-mate Paul Nowosadko, who played that album a million times, over and over and over and over again, until well past the point where we all wanted to strangle him. He was too nice a guy to strangle, but we suffered for letting him live. The same situation with Blood on the Tracks caused a serious rift in the friendship of two female college friends, too; one felt that album should be reserved for reverent occasional listenings, while the other felt it should be the soundtrack for every waking moment. A serious we-need-to-talk problem.

Anyway, now I'm a Stefanko fan.

Mike

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Harsh reality

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Richard Popham: "Brings me back.... One of my college roommates drove the rest of us crazy with Jackson Browne's For Everyman. We finally hid it on him and he bought another. But—it was his stereo."

Jonathan: "It took me well into my late 30s to really be able to cope with Springsteen due to overexposure to that particular song. Though I have a massive life long aversion to Meatloaf, in particular Bat out of Hell, I was stuck on a five-hour drive with a friend once with that being the only tape on the tape deck...yes it was that long ago, it was a small car too so the music really surrounded you...I'm even feeling a little anxious just re-telling the story...."

Mike replies: ...Made me laugh.

Tim Auger: "I sympathise. When at boarding school aged 13–14, I suffered Ricky Nelson. Hour after hour, day after day, week after week. Always bl**dy Ricky Nelson. I was forced to learn by heart not only the songs but the scratch noises on the vinyl LP (you call them albums, I think). Sixty years later, I still feel the trauma."

Mani Sitaraman: "I first saw that environmental portrait many years ago, and it is unusual for being a double portrait, of a man and of a car (and of the man and his car), as any classic car enthusiast will recognize, instantly. With the snow and the house in the background, it adds two more dimensions to the environmental clues about the subject. But even without the analysis, you don't have to be a Springsteen or 'Vette fan to see that that's a great picture.

"My other favorite picture of Springsteen is more straightforward, and is by Joel Bernstein, and is also available at the Morrison Hotel online gallery. To those acquainted with the time and place, the Jersey Shore in the late 1970s, Bernstein's picture is an instant classic, too. Tonally, though, Stefanko's image is quite a bit more interesting."

Comments

[Speed]

Lots of stadium and punctum in that photograph.

[Joe B]

Bruce don't lean on the car!

[Joe Iannazzone]

Double Excellence - You really need to give Born to Run a second chance. It is number 1 on my desert island list. Over 40+ years, I've probably played it over 2,000+ times (once a week). Springsteen says he tried to write music that he could continue to perform as he aged. At least for me it has held up remarkably well.

[Tom Bell]

Same problem for me, my old teenage friend Martin .... and After the Gold Rush!

[Peter Conway]

I remember arriving in Philadelphia (from Chicago) for my freshman year of college, in September 1975. Our resident advisor was covering some of the key places to know, which included the campus record store. “They even have the new Bruce Springsteen album!,” she exclaimed.

I thought to myself, “Wow, Bruce Springsteen... who the hell is he?” A product of the Jersey Shore, he was obviously better known in Philly than in Chicago. Less than two months later he was on the covers of both Time and Newsweek, the same week. No one was wondering who Springsteen was any more.

[B Elias]

It sorta looks like a spontaneous snap, but given the amount of snow along the road edges, the road itself must surely have been quite slushy & dirty, yet the car looks immaculate. I wonder if it was carefully cleaned in preparation for the photo? It might even have been cautiously offloaded from a truck & positioned appropriately. Either way, a powerful story told.

[Paulo Bizarro]

Classic pic indeed. I am a big Bruce fan, and I think he has aged well, some of his recent work is really good. I also recommend his autobiography book, plenty of interesting pics in there too.

[Michael T.]

After reading Springsteens autobiography or watching the Netflix special of his award winning show on Broadway, inspired by the book, you may still not like his music but you’ll love the man (but given your music connoisseurship I think you’ll come to appreciate the why behind some of his iconic songs).

[Robert Roaldi]

You probably already know this but Patti Smith is also a photographer, with a love for Polaroid.

[Sherman]

His album

Nebraska
is a proper antidote for overexposure to “Born to Run”. It’s pensive where the latter is bold, a difference captured in the gorgeous cover photograph by David Michael Kennedy, also available from https://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/photographs/QvNPJa/Bruce-Springsteen-iNebraskai-Cover-1975

[Jim Witkowski]

At least you all had to listen to songs from the radio. My high school all-night graduation party was at Disneyland. The rides were free. While on the Small World ride, the chain broke, but not the music. We were forced to listen to that song for over an hour. That's why I'll never go back, even if I could afford it.

[Don Seymour]

I can relate as well. College next door neighbor was from Asbury Park, NJ. The Springsteen music would just not stop. Hated it. Then that summer a friend after much persuasion dragged me to a Springsteen concert at a small venue in Maine. I was completely blown away by his live performance and energy, just amazing. Became a fan.

[Andrew Lamb]

I've never been able to reconcile the title of Darkness on the Edge of Town with the floral wallpaper in the background of the cover shot.

[robert quiet photographer]

Great man, great car, nice picture. Thanks for this post.
robert
PS: I love the photo for the Nebraska cover suggested by Sherman a few posts above.A strong image.

[Robert]

Ha. I have exactly the opposite reason for loving Born To Run. In 1976 I had never heard of Springsteen and I was in Europe on a 6 week bus tour. The bus had exactly 4 cassettes - Hot August Night, Don't Shoot Me I'm only the Piano Player, Songs of Leonard Cohen and one I've blissfully forgotten.

As a consequence I hate to this day Neil Diamond, Elton John and Leonard Cohen (although Cohen grew on me over the years).

When we got to Andorra and duty free shopping, I bought Born to Run because the cover looked interesting and wasn't by one of the aforementioned artists. The rest is history...

[Oskar Ojala]

I was born when Springsteen had already become a big name, I've never lived in America and for me that photo embodies the same a bit too perfect aesthetic that's in Springsteen's music. We have Springsteen representing the everyman, casually leaning on a classic car with a wooden house in the background on a quiet street. It's picture perfect for a certain kind of image of America. In retrospect, one can think about how well the visual imagery fits together with the brand and image of the man. Certainly an excellent picture that carefully blends between documentary, environmental portrait and staged setup.

Have no traumas of his music, my favorite of his is the 1975-1985 live collection.

[Rob Campbell]

Oh well, if you can't have a Mustang, then I guess a Chevrolet will do...

Rob

[Richard Parkin]

I can’t look at that photo without thinking that the figure seems to have been photoshopped in*. I suppose his odd, apparently suspended, pose is because he’s perching uncomfortably on the edge of the headlight.

*Yes, I know it’s from 1978 ;-)

[Patrick Dodds]

Lovely photo.

If you've not heard Reno by Springsteen, maybe give it a try:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjNHMU4kY8s

[Warning: NSFW. Though of course you can be the judge of that...].

[Tom K.]

In an even more mind numbing situation I once had a neighbor who played only one song over and over all day every day only taking breaks for sleeping during the night. It was Elton John's "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding". A great song yes......but.....over 11 minutes long and played essentially on an endless loop.