The February 1981 issue of Musician magazine has Bruce Springsteen on the cover. Inside, in a twelve-page interview, the rock star discusses his music, his concerts, and his experience with fame. I keep a page of this interview in my desk drawer so that I can take it out every so often and read it. It’s the page where the interviewer asks Springsteen, whose popularity is rapidly growing, if he can still walk down the street without being recognized, and Springsteen responds with a story:
The other night I went out. . . . Went to the movies by myself, walked in, got my popcorn. This guy comes up to me, real nice guy. He says, “Listen, you want to sit with me and my sister?” I say, “All right.” So we watch the movie [laughs]. It was great, too, because it was that Woody Allen movie [Stardust Memories, about a famous director who’s beleaguered by his fans] . . . and this poor kid says, “Jesus, I don’t know what to say to ya. Is that the way it is? Is that how you feel?” I say, “No, I don’t feel like that so much.” And he had the amazing courage to come up to me at the end of the movie and ask if I’d go home and meet his mother and father. I said, “What time is it?” It was eleven o’clock, so I said, “Well, OK.”
