Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, June 22, 2011, Page 15, Image 15

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    lune 22, 2011
Çortlanh (Dbseruer
Page 15
Arts
' V
E
NTEM
ENÍEEIAISMENI
COME SUPPORT THE
GIRLS ALL STAR
SOFTBALL
Peninsula Little League and
Interstate-Kenton is having a
car wash for the Girls
Softball All Stars.
«arence C'emons (left) and Bruce Springsteen perform on the NBC 'Today' television program on
jG pi. 2o, 2007.
Influential Sax Player Larger-than-Life
Clarence
Clemons spent
much of his life
with
‘the Boss’
iAD\
m
that made him retire from the sport
------. ~ ■ for
good.
album. Just this week, Lady Gaga's
video with Clemons, "The Edge of
Glory, debuted.
Outside The Stone Pony, the leg-
endary Asbury Park, N.J., rock club
where Springsteen, Clemons and
other E Street Band members cut
their teeth in the 1970s, Phil Kuntz
stopped to place a small yellow
flower on a decorative white fence,
Nearby, someone taped a handwrit-
ten sign that read simply "RIP Big
Man."
Reaction came from across the
entertainment industry.
• "Clarence Clemons was an elec-
trie, generous, sweet spirit. Taught
( P) - Clarence Clemons, the
arger-than-Iife saxophone player for
the E Street Band who was one of
the key in flu e n c e s in B ruce
Springsteen’s life and music through
four decades, is being remembered.
Clemons, 69, died Saturday night
afterbeinghospitalizedabouta week
earlier following a stroke.
Springsteen called the loss "im­ me how to look cool with a sax.
measurable."
Goodbye Big Man," tweeted actor
Known as the Big Man for his Rob Lowe.
imposing 6-foot-5-inch, 270-plus
_____
iu i
Added «iu..u«,ci
Questlove,
drummer for
pound frame, Clemons and his ever- the Roots: "RIP Clarence Clemons,
present saxophone spent much of A True Legend. Will be absolutely
his life with The Boss, and his boom- missed."
mg saxophone solos became a sig-
An original member — and the
nature sound for the E Street Band oldest member — of the E Street
on m any key songs, including Band, Clemons also performed with
'Jungleland," a triumphant solo he the Grateful Dead, the Jerry Garcia
spent 16 hours perfecting, and "Bom Band, and Ringo Starr's All Star
To Run-
Band. He recorded with a wide range
In recent years, Clemons had of artists including Aretha Franklin,
been slowed by health woes. He Roy Orbison and Jackson Browne,
endured major spinal surgery in He
January 2010 and, at the 2009 Super
Bom in Norfolk, Va„ Clemons
Bowl, Clemons rose from a wheel- was the grandson of a Baptist min-
chair to perform with Springsteen ister and began playing the
after double knee replacement sur-
He was influenced by R&B art-
8ery-
ists such as King Curtis and Junior
But his health seemed to be im- Walker. But his dreams originally
proving. In May, he performed with focused on football. He played for
Lady Gaga on the season finale of Maryland State College, and was to
"American Idol," and performed on try out for the Cleveland Browns
two songs on her Bom TTiis Way" when he got in a bad car accident
Saturday, June 25,2011
Portland Observer
4747 NE Martin Luther King Blvd.
Time: 11:00am to 4:00pm
His energies then focused on
music.
In 1971, Clemons was playing
with Norman Seldin & the Joyful
Noise when he heard about rising
sin g e r-so n g w rite r
nam ed
Springsteen.
T erry F amily
F uneral
H ome
2337 N. Williams Ave.
Portland, Or 97227
5 0 3 -2 4 9 -1 7 8 8
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Oregon License CO-3644
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