The Virginia Gentlemen Remember: Clarence Clemons

If there's one thing we do reasonably well here at the Virginia Gentlemen, it's eulogizing marginally famous pop culture figures in a timely manner.  Unfortunately, the time has come to do that again, as Clarence "The Big Man" Clemons, the star of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, died Sunday morning after suffering a stroke a week ago.

Perhaps the original sexy sax man?

I'm not going to waste your time with why Clarence was such a dynamic figure or what he meant to scores of Baby Boomers.  Much smarter people than I have already done that in other places, most notably here and here.  I will simply say this: even though it was readily apparent in the last few years that he wasn't at full strength and was not nearly as mobile as he used to be, diminished Clarence was better than nothing.  A little over two years ago in May of 2009, I had the privilege of seeing Bruce and the E Street Band for the first time on campus at Penn State minutes after finishing my last exam as an undergraduate.  The highlight of the concert, which was without question the best I've ever seen (even with their legendary reputation for marathon live shows, it's amazing how a group of folks nearly a decade older than my parents can captivate a crowd for three hours), was "Jungleland," the nine-minute epic that closes Born to Run and one of my favorite Springsteen songs.  As anyone who has heard the song knows, its most poignant passage is Clemons' two minute sax solo, which for my money is right up there with anything in the Boss' catalog.  Getting to hear a song that meant a lot to me on a night like that was a very special experience that I'll remember fondly for the rest of my life.

So without any further ado, I can't think of any better tribute to the Big Man than to show him and the band at the height of their powers -- "Jungleland" from The River tour in 1978.  The video quality isn't great by modern standards (or really any standards), but the audio is more than serviceable, and you can see why shows like this elevated Springsteen into a god and Clarence into a demi-god.  Clarence (and those white shoes!) commands the stage for his solo four minutes in, but you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't watch the whole thing.

--J.J. Gittes