"The Boss" and Hungry Ed
(Ed Sciaky)

The following appeared in a major Philadelphia daily newspaper on Wednesday, August 14, 1985.

"People thought he was a 'hype,'" recalls WIOQ radio personality Ed Sciaky about his old buddy Bruce Springsteen, who headlines tonight and tomorrow at Veterans Stadium.

"They kept complaining about his voice, whining, 'Why does he sound that way?' I'd tell them to go check him out in concert, 'cause this was the greatest performer in rock 'n' roll. They thought I had to have some screws loose to be so crazy for some rock guy."

Today, muses the 37-year-old Sciaky, "millions of people are totally berserk about him. It's almost gotten out of hand. Bruce likes to walk around like a normal person. He is a normal person. But nowadays, if he just gives a kid a ride home, it becomes front-page news. Most of the older fans are still cool, respectful. But he could cause a riot if he went to the wrong place. And a lot of the hardcore fans are actually angry 'cause they can't get tickets to see him anymore. They wish he hadn't gotten so big."

Probably the most passionate and influential Springsteen supporter (first) and friend (second) in America, Ed Sciaky jumped on the Springsteen case in late 1973 like it was some kind of a mission from God. Fortunate to be in a hot spot on a progressive rock station (WMMR) back when a DJ still had the power to indulge personal tastes to excess, Sciaky banged those early records by "Bruce Who?" as if this earnest, funny, raspy-voiced singer/songwriter was the reincarnation of the Beatles.

He also turned other artists on to Bruce, including Manfred Mann, who scored a No. 1 with "Blinded by the Light," Springsteen's first hit as a songwriter.

As a true believer, Sciaky ran up tens of thousands of miles in his ''Shockmobile" (a Springsteen-coined nickname for his 1969 Rambler) in marathon jaunts to Bruce concerts most anywhere and everywhere, from here all the way to California.

Bruce showered Sciaky with commemorative gold records as a thank you, anointing him with the affectionate tag "Hungry Ed," because of the way the DJ would arrive at the distant concert venue just before the show, rush backstage "and gobble up all the performers' food," Sciaky notes with a laugh. The nickname turned up in many Springsteen raps on-stage, such as the one in which a Martian space ship lands in the swamps of Jersey, surprising the heck out of "The Boss" (Bruce) and "The Big Man" (saxophonist Clarence Clemons). And who should walk out of the space ship first but the Martians' interpreter, Hungry Ed Sciaky, complaining how he hadn't had a hamburger to eat in two hours!

Sciaky figures he has seen in excess of 300 Springsteen performances. Yet he swears that each one has been memorable in its own way - this one for an incredible "Rosalita," that one for the best-ever rendering of "Pretty Flamingo" or the "Detroit Breakdown" medley.

And who could forget the first time Bruce did "Hungry Heart" and the audience sang all the words for him?

Sciaky claims Springsteen's magic still hasn't faded before his eyes. "He was great at the beginning, really acting out his songs, making them mini- dramas. As a performer, he's even greater now, much more physical. That he can hold an entire stadium in the power of his hand is just amazing."

Sciaky does concede that people seeing Bruce for the first time now "have missed so much, especially what I call his first golden era. That's when he was getting together all the extended, romantic, dramatic material for the second and third albums ("The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle" and ''Born to Run"), and before his career really took off, with all the media attention.

"To have missed all that early stuff is like coming into a soap opera that's been on TV for 20 years. People can sort of fill you in about the characters, but it's not like you really know what they're all about. I'm sorry all those old performances weren't all immortalized on videotape. Wouldn't it be great to have a TV station devoted strictly to Bruce? Hey, I want my BTV! And while I know I shouldn't say it, I am glad there have been bootlegs (unauthorized recordings) of Springsteen's early material, so the hardcore fans can fill in some of the missing pieces - some of the many songs he never recorded, and the earlier versions of songs that were radically different from the final version he released. The 'boots' are also the only place to find some of the comic fantasy raps and autobiographical stories he told in concert between songs. Back in the early days, he was very experimental, and worked a lot of things out in front of the audience.

"Today he handles things differently; he gets the songs down pat first in the studio, and only after recording the song will he start performing it live. So you don't get to see the creative process at work."

Sciaky also allows, with some regret, that Springsteen's stardom has put a damper on their relationship. Back in the beginning, Sciaky shepherded Springsteen around - picking him up at the Trailways bus station; introducing him to other friends and rising stars such as Billy Joel, David Bowie and Barry Manilow; inviting the Boss to sleep on his couch ("which is still in our living room," Sciaky notes with delight) when he couldn't afford a hotel room; taking him out to sup at the elegant Melrose Diner; inviting him up to the radio station to play his favorite tracks.

Now? "Bruce has all these flunkies around him who shield him from the world. Plus he's on a fitness kick, which includes a long rubdown after every performance. So it's hard just to get backstage and say hello."

What was Bruce really like back then? Has he changed? "I don't think he's changed, really. He's basically shy, maybe now a little less than he was, but still basically an unpretentious, humble guy from a hick town (Freehold, N.J.)who somehow manages to come alive on stage. This image is real, not a concoction, not fake in any way.

"He's not one to talk a lot about his music. Nor would he have occasions to tell you funny stories about his childhood, offstage. Bruce says you 'known an artist through his art.'

"He's never wanted to meet his idols, felt that was irrelevant. On a lark, he once tried to meet Elvis Presley by climbing over the wall at Graceland, but when Bruce came to see Elvis at the Spectrum, and was offered the chance to meet him backstage, he declined. I had to persuade him to come meet Bowie, when Bowie was recording one of his songs here at Sigma Sound -'It's Hard to be a Saint in the City.' (It never was released.)

"He's always had a very clear vision of how he wanted his career to go," Sciaky notes."And he's always been very aware of the pratfalls that come with stardom. I think it's very telling that he met and married Julianne (Phillips) so quickly. The last time he was in town (last September) he didn't even know her. I think he was looking for some normalcy in his life, and has found it with her."

Those September concerts at the Spectrum marked the last time Ed talked with Bruce. "He was deathly hoarse after the show, so I basically talked at him. But he gave me a big hug and a kiss. He always does."