Steven Van Zandt is used to being the coolest man in the room.
Whether providing genre-defining riffs for Born to Run as the guitarist for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, or exuding menace and mirth as mobster Silvio Dante in classic TV series The Sopranos, nothing fazes the man in a bandana, who has a new memoir, Unrequited Infatuations, being published on Tuesday, September 28.
Although, as Van Zandt, 70, tells The National, that icy veneer cracked ever so slightly in 2017 when he was offered two experiences he could have only dreamt about when starting out in his career more than five decades ago.
First came the opportunity to appear in a Martin Scorsese film.
"It was The Irishman and a small cameo role, but I didn't care," he recalls. "I just said yes because it was always my dream to work with him. You don't say no to that."
Satisfied with the US shoot, he jetted to London in time to kick off a UK tour with his acclaimed band Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul.
And then came the second moment.
"I get a phone call saying Paul McCartney wanted to come to the show," he says. "Now, that was a big deal because The Beatles are everything to me. They changed my entire life."
Sure enough, McCartney arrived at their gig at the Roundhouse in London, and not simply to watch, but also to share the stage with Van Zandt to perform The Beatles classic I Saw Her Standing There.
That show was a tribute to the Fab Four, as Van Zandt's 15-piece band effortlessly tore through some of the group's biggest hits, including Magical Mystery Tour and All You Need is Love.
Van Zandt's performance with McCartney is now immortalised as a bonus track on Macca to Mecca, the new live album and DVD by Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, recorded in November 2017 at Liverpool's famous Cavern Club and released in January this year.
Not only was the album a fitting way to end the tour, he says, but its title practically wrote itself.
“Starting from that first show with McCartney in London where he joined us, I was just in a real Beatles mood after that,” he says. “And then playing in the same venue in Liverpool where The Beatles started their careers was a childhood dream of mine come true.
“For my rock ‘n’ roll religion, The Cavern is the first sacred site. It was an honour – no, make that an epiphany – to perform there.”
A sense of closure
Those memories, on-stage moments and appearances on both the small and big screen all feature in Van Zandt's memoir.
It traces everything from his beginnings on the Jersey Shore music scene alongside his friend, Springsteen, to him spearheading the US pop industry's resistance against South Africa's former apartheid regime through the Sun City group album.
Van Zandt used the unexpected downtime brought on by the pandemic to write the book.
"I tried writing this about 10 or 12 years ago, but I couldn't figure out the ending," he says. "That doesn't mean I am done because I still have a million ideas and I am just getting started. But going back to how McCartney came on my stage gave me that sense of closure."
There was no plan B
The reflection process also brought up a few piercing insights about the early days with Springsteen and the E Street Band, and the making of their debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ.
"We had no plan B," Van Zandt says. "We were a complete cast of misfits and freaks and we didn't know anything else to do. We were either going to make it or die trying."
Van Zandt believes the music business was less cut-throat then.
"We didn't have a real hit until our fifth album [1980's The River]," he says. "Record companies then were really investing in you as an artist and the tragedy today is the concept of development is gone.
“The truth is greatness in any form is not born, but developed over years of working on your craft."
As for his acting success, Van Zandt credits The Sopranos star James Gandolfini and series creator David Chase.
"Chase showed me the importance of detail," he says. "By going into the small, little eccentricities of New Jersey life in The Sopranos, he made the show even more universal and gave us more things we can relate to.
“Springsteen does the same with his songs and this is also why people love them anywhere in the world."
Does Van Zandt care to test that theory further with a regional tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band?
“Oh, I hope so and we would love to come to the UAE,” he says. “We love to travel anywhere and play, and right now, with people getting vaccinated, we are thinking of what we can do in 2022 and hopefully that area of the world can be part of the conversation.”
Vaccine Progress in the Middle East
About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Company%20profile
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RACE CARD
6.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh82.500 (Dirt) 1,400m
7.05pm Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m
7.40pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (Turf) 2,410m
8.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,900m
8.50pm UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (TB) Conditions Dh183,650 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm Dubai Trophy (TB) Conditions Dh183,650 (T) 1,200m
10pm Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (T) 1,400m
Race card
6.30pm: Handicap (TB) $68,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
7.05pm: Meydan Cup – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (Turf) 2,810m
7.40pm: UAE 2000 Guineas – Group 3 (TB) $125,000 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: Firebreak Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,600m
9.50pm: Meydan Classic – Conditions (TB) $$50,000 (T) 1,400m
9.25pm: Dubai Sprint – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,200m
Muguruza's singles career in stats
WTA titles 3
Prize money US$11,128,219 (Dh40,873,133.82)
Wins / losses 293 / 149
Factfile on Garbine Muguruza:
Name: Garbine Muguruza (ESP)
World ranking: 15 (will rise to 5 on Monday)
Date of birth: October 8, 1993
Place of birth: Caracas, Venezuela
Place of residence: Geneva, Switzerland
Height: 6ft (1.82m)
Career singles titles: 4
Grand Slam titles: 2 (French Open 2016, Wimbledon 2017)
Career prize money: $13,928,719
Royal Birkdale Golf Course
Location: Southport, Merseyside, England
Established: 1889
Type: Private
Total holes: 18
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
The biog
Name: Shamsa Hassan Safar
Nationality: Emirati
Education: Degree in emergency medical services at Higher Colleges of Technology
Favourite book: Between two hearts- Arabic novels
Favourite music: Mohammed Abdu and modern Arabic songs
Favourite way to spend time off: Family visits and spending time with friends
Results
5.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,400m; Winner: Mcmanaman, Sam Hitchcock (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)
6.05pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Bawaasil, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson
6.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (Dirt) 1,400m; Winner: Bochart, Fabrice Veron, Satish Seemar
7.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: Mutaraffa, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
7.50pm: Longines Stakes – Conditions (TB) Dh120,00 (D) 1,900m; Winner: Rare Ninja, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
8.25pm: Zabeel Trophy – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Alfareeq, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
9pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (T) 2,410m; Winner: Good Tidings, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
9.35pm: Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (T) 2,000m; Winner: Zorion, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi, Helal Al Alawi
When is VAR used?
• Goals
• Penalty decisions
• Direct red-card incidents
• Mistaken identity
Points tally
1. Australia 52; 2. New Zealand 44; 3. South Africa 36; 4. Sri Lanka 35; 5. UAE 27; 6. India 27; 7. England 26; 8. Singapore 8; 9. Malaysia 3
RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES
September 30
South Africa v Australia
Argentina v New Zealand
October 7
South Africa v New Zealand
Argentina v Australia
8 traditional Jamaican dishes to try at Kingston 21
- Trench Town Rock: Jamaican-style curry goat served in a pastry basket with a carrot and potato garnish
- Rock Steady Jerk Chicken: chicken marinated for 24 hours and slow-cooked on the grill
- Mento Oxtail: flavoured oxtail stewed for five hours with herbs
- Ackee and salt fish: the national dish of Jamaica makes for a hearty breakfast
- Jamaican porridge: another breakfast favourite, can be made with peanut, cornmeal, banana and plantain
- Jamaican beef patty: a pastry with ground beef filling
- Hellshire Pon di Beach: Fresh fish with pickles
- Out of Many: traditional sweet potato pudding
First-round leaderbaord
-5 C Conners (Can)
-3 B Koepka (US), K Bradley (US), V Hovland (Nor), A Wise (US), S Horsfield (Eng), C Davis (Aus);
-2 C Morikawa (US), M Laird (Sco), C Tringale (US)
Selected others: -1 P Casey (Eng), R Fowler (US), T Hatton (Eng)
Level B DeChambeau (US), J Rose (Eng)
1 L Westwood (Eng), J Spieth (US)
3 R McIlroy (NI)
4 D Johnson (US)
