G4 The Boston Globe FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019
beentravelingup and downthe East
Coast to catch every show.
“I rememberthinking: Why the hell
wouldanybody do that?” Schneier re-
calls with a laugh. A couple of songs in-
to the set, he knew why.
Onemonthlater, Schneiersaw
Springsteen performagain,this time
at the Harvard Square Theatre. That
showwould change his life, and not
just in a figurative sense. It would
change Springsteen’s life, too.
The photos Schneier took that
nightwerereallygood. He printed a
few of themand addedthemto his
portfolio. Then he moved out West.
He got married. He and his wife,
Marty, had threeboys. They moved
back East, and Schneier started a long
careerin corporate videoand event
production.Andthe portfolio got
jammedbeneath a stack of papersin
his crampedoffice on the groundfloor
of their split-level home in Holliston.
By then, the 35mm cameras that
onceaccompaniedhim everywherehe
went were consignedto “taking pic-
tures of kids at soccer games,” Schneier
says.
Eventuallyhis sons, now grown, be-
came aware of the rock ’n’ roll pictures.
You should do somethingwith these,
they told their father. Besidesa young
Springsteen, he had intimate black-
and-whiteshotsof Van Morrison and
Jackson Browne and Patti Smith, tak-
en fromthe wingsof Boston-areastag-
es.
Someyearsago, the Globeran a
photo contest called “Your Best Shot.”
Taking his sons’ advice, Schneier sent
in a picture of the 24-year-old Spring-
steen sitting at the piano.It’s a gor-
geous shot — this shaggy, wiry, in-
tenselyfocusedSpringsteen character,
his back curved as he hunches over the
keyboard. His lips are pursed in con-
centration, and there’s a faintglow
froma small lamp fixedabovehis
hands.
Schneier felt pretty good about his
chances.Whenhe had taken the pic-
ture,he’d beenpacking up his camer-
as, sitting on a drumcase. As E Street
pianist David Sancious left his bench,
Schneier had thought maybe the band
was throughfor the night. But when
Springsteen sat downand began play-
ing a slowed-down, contemplative ver-
sion of “For You,” from his debut al-
bum, “Greetings From Asbury Park,
N.J.,” Schneier had scrambled to get a
few moreshots.
He won the contest; no surprise
there. It’s what happenednext that
rocked Barry Schneier’s world.
The photocaught the eager atten-
tion of Chris Phillips,the editor and
publisherof Backstreets, a long-run-
ning Springsteen fan site. Springsteen,
of course, has never been far from the
publiceye sincethe breakthroughof
his classic “Born to Run” albumin
1975. But photos of him performing
in his early years, still in obscurity, are
exceedingly rare.
Phillips asked to publishseveral of
uSPRINGSTEEN
Continued fromPageG1
Schneier’s photographs from that
night in Harvard Square. After Back-
streets ran the photos, Springsteen
fans lined up to order prints. Presti-
giousinstitutionssuch as the Grammy
Museumand the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame beganinviting Schneierto par-
ticipate in group photography exhibi-
tions. And he started bringing his cam-
eras to concerts again.
At one point, while driving into
Boston for a night out, his wife asked if
he wanted to devote his time to this re-
surgent photography thing.
“I thinkI do,” he said.
“Then keep at it,” Marty replied.
A decade or so after he dusted
off his old prints and contact sheets,
Backstreets has just published a deluxe
collectible book of Schneier’s Spring-
steen photos.Phillipsand Schneier
launched a Kickstarter for the project,
hoping to raise $32,000 to cover the
cost of printing a limited edition of 500
books. Supporters ended up pledging
morethan $100,000 — enough for
3,000 copies. The names of all 1,001backers appear in the back of the book,
which hasn’t quite sold out yet.
In her foreword,EileenChapman,
director of the BruceSpringsteen Ar-
chives and Center for American Music
at MonmouthUniversity in New Jer-
sey, reminds us of Springsteen’s habit
of calling for “a witness” whenhe’s on-
stage.
Schneier, she writes, “pulled duty as
Bruce’s reliable witness” when he cap-
turedthe performance— one that
wouldturn out to leave a rather large
markon the timeline of Americanpop-
ular music history.
The book’s title, “Bruce Spring-
steen: Rock and Roll Future,” comes
from the other significant thing about
that Cambridge show, 45 years ago.
It may not have happened at all
wereit not for Schneier. After seeing
Springsteen at Charlie’s Place, he im-
plored his friend Ira Gold — one of two
partners in a local concert promotion
company called Windowpane Produc-
tions — to consider bookingthis
Springsteen fellow.
Onemonthlater, they brought
Springsteen back to openfor Bonnie
Raitt at the Harvard Square Theatre.
Becausehe was friendswiththe pro-
moters, Schneier had full accessto the
band.
After the show, a critic for the Real
Paper named Jon Landau wrote a line
that still standsas the rock-music
equivalent of Ralph Waldo Emerson’soffereda hearty sendoff on behalf of
the Boston music scene.
“Have a good life!” he said.
Today, Schneier, 69, has a lot less
hair than he did backthen. Sitting in
his livingroom,he gets up to turn off
the stereo, which is playing a Tracy
Chapman song. Willis, his Shih Tzu,
clambersonto the sofa and curls up.
Sincehis entree into the Spring-
steen orbit, Schneierhas tradedorigi-
nal prints withfellow photographers.
Across the livingroom,there’s an ap-
propriately large printof Clarence
Clemons, Springsteen’s late saxophon-
ist. It’s signed by Danny Clinch,one of
the true big-name rock ’n’ roll photog-
raphers.
OverSchneier’s shoulder hangsan-
other framedprint, this one by Pam
Springsteen, Bruce’s sister. It captures
the singer sitting at a tableat home
witha notepad,an acoustic guitarin
his lap.
“He’s working on ‘The Ghost of Tom
Joad,’ ” Schneier explains.
That’s one of Springsteen’s more
haunted songs, but it does includea
line that mightapply to Schneier’s ser-
endipitous life: With a few clicks of the
shutter, morethan half a lifetime ago,
he ensuredhimself “a one-way ticket
to the promised land.”JamesSullivan canbe reached at
[email protected]. Follow
himon Twitter @sullivanjames.PHOTOSBY BARRYSCHNEIERGlimpsing the future in photos of the Boss
Photosby Barry Schneier
showBruceSpringsteen
and the E Street Bandat
soundcheck(above)and
performing(below)at the
Harvard SquareTheatre in
1974.legendary letter to Walt Whitman: “I
greet you at the beginningof a great
career.”
“I saw rock and roll future,” Landau
wrote, “and its name is BruceSpring-
steen.”Landauwouldsoon become
Springsteen’s manager. Springsteen
would become,well, Springsteen.
Schneier, meanwhile, madehis
moveto California. The day before he
left, he was at a show on the Esplanade
when he bumped into an acquain-
tance,a skinny youngguy named Ste-
ven Tallarico.Schneier mentioned his
plans to move,and Tallarico— better
known as Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler —SchneiersawSpringsteenperformagain,thistimeat theHarvardSquareTheatre.That showwouldchange hislife,andnotjust in afigurativesense.ItwouldchangeSpringsteen’slife,too.