Crabtown Observed #5
Nov 26th, 2009 | By Rafael Alvarez | Category: Crabtown ObservedNovember 20, 2009 / 8:25 p.m. to 11:47 p.m.
1st Mariner Arena / Baltimore & Howard Streets
I prefer to call it the Civic Center, but then I still look for the pale green siding of Connelly’s as I drive past Pier Five on Pratt Street.
At the Civic Center, I saw my first rock concert – Appaloosa opening for the Edgar Winter Group in 1974 – Frank Zappa promoting “Apostrophe” at the height of his popularity; Pistol Pete Maravich launching bombs against the Baltimore Bullets and, in the spring of 1993, the graduation of a pretty girl named Mandy Knittle from Loyola College.
I hadn’t been inside the 47-year-old building for quite some time before this past Friday when a friend from Manhattan – the always entertaining Leo Sacks, producer of the “Sing Me Back Home/New Orleans Social Club” CD – said he was coming down to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
Leo had an extra ticket and all I had to do to tag along was treat him to the best crab cake in Baltimore. Of course we drove straight to Koco’s on Harford Road near Iona Terrace in Hamilton.
[If anyone knows how Iona Terrace got its name, I sure would like to know. See this link for my continuing research into Baltimore street names.]
The Civic Center/1st Mariner Arena – where an addled Elvis Presley left the stage for 20-minutes during a May 29, 1977 concert a few months before his death – reminds me of many fellow Baltimoreans: a little chipped, bruised and sagging but holding on.
Springsteen last performed at 201 West Baltimore Street – where the Continental Congress was in session in 1776 – when the E Street Band opened for Chicago on June 2, 1973.
“We played five songs in half an hour. I think it was $2 to get in,” said Springsteen of the night 36 years ago. “Some guy yelled at me, ‘Hey man, we didn’t come here to see you,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, well the next time we come here, it’s going to cost you $5.’”
[You could not have gotten me to see either Springsteen or Chicago in 1973 as I was busy listening to all 81.35 minutes of The Who’s Quadrophenia after school every day; a fact I shared with Pete Townsend when I bumped into him on a London street in 1997. Townsend gave me a funny look, moved back a step and signed an autograph.]
The sold-out crowd at the Springsteen show last week was 99 percent white, somewhat aggressive and included Governor O’Malley, his wife Katie and a lot of drunks.
It reminded me more of a Ravens crowd than a rock and roll audience and the booze and testosterone atmosphere they created (at odds with the life’s work of the poet from Freehold) wasn’t always pleasant.
Bruce played his heart out as usual; performing “Born to Run” in it’s entirety along with plums like “Prove It All Night” (on which Bethesda-boy Nils Lofgren played slide guitar worthy of Duane Allman’s ghost) and played the piano without accompaniment on “For You.”
. . . but you did not need my urgency . . .
Yet one brief passage stayed with me longer than the music, the few moments when Bruce made a plea for the Maryland Food Bank, which had staff and volunteers walking around the arena with buckets for donations.
Just two or three minutes out of the three-and-a-half-hour show was spent talking about kids going to bed hungry and helping somebody out and how, Bruce said, “the Maryland Food Bank is on the front lines of God’s work.”
But in that couple of minutes, you could feel the excitement drain from the arena. And while I’m sure more than a few of the 14,000 or so reached in their pockets to donate a buck or two (bottles of water were selling for $3.50, beer a few dollars more if not twice as much) it felt as though the crowd tuned out until the Boss finished his brief sermon about people needing to look after one another.
It reminded me of the lyrics of the 18th song of the 30 Springsteen sang, a rocker called “Radio Nowhere” from the 2007 “Magic” album behind which the band has spent the last two years touring.
Is there anybody alive out there . . . ?
Rafael Alvarez works the night desk at Henderson’s Wharf Hotel in Fells Point. He can be reached here.
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Thanks for saying Loyola College instead of using the “U” word, first of all. People who graduated before 2009 didn’t go to the “U” word school, and we appreciate the proper verbiage.
I think people are feeling bombarded with requests this year, especially because a lot of folks who had money to give in past years just don’t right now. But it is a stark contrast between the willingness txchange of cash at the bar. Sad commentary on our priorities. Perhaps The Boss could ask to have beer prices increased by a buck per next time around, and that money could then be donated directly.
Folks may have been tapped out b/c of the $100 plus ticket prices as well. It is an interesting phenomenon that earnest, liberal minded, spirituality-based musicians like Bruce and U2 appeal to an aging and increasing affluent fan base whose daily lives and politics may or may not have a lot in common with those whom they have embraced. I am reminded of Don Henley’s lyric ” Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac”…Still I am grateful they are still out there giving great shows.
Well I too saw my First and Second Concert at the CIVIC CENTER and funny part was they were on successive nights a Friday Night Show of Ronny James Dio and a Saturday Show of AC/DC year was 1983 I was 15 and remember having the time of my life, Also worked as a vendor there that same year running through the stands selling Soda & Popcorn for 17.5% Commission but hey during a BLAST Game you could make good money – However I longed to be 21 and sell BEER because thats where all the cash was to be made. Had a great year at the Civic Center and will cherish those memories forever.