Like many folks from Ohio, I have spent very little time in the state of New Jersey. Mostly I find myself driving through it on my way to New York City or staring at it across the Delaware River while eating a late night cheesesteak in Philadelphia.
However, I recently found myself in the Garden State along with my Watershed pals Joe Oestreich and Biggie while attending a wedding of a friend’s son. While we had no gigs scheduled around the nuptials, we still had the van. So when we realized we were less than an hour from the new Bruce Springsteen Center For American Music, we knew we had to make our move.
The museum itself is relatively low key affair located at Monmouth University in Long Branch, NJ. This is ground zero for all things Bruce and if you didn’t know what you were looking for you could drive right past it.
We arrived right at opening on a Sunday morning and once inside it was a treasure trove of all things Boss and plenty of other incredible rock n roll artifacts. Just inside the front door was a poster showing the eleven different shows Bruce played at Monmouth College BEFORE he had a record deal. You get the idea.
The welcoming movie features Bruce and he explains why he wanted this museum to not just be about him, but all the musicians that influenced him. “I am just one messenger in a long line of messengers that will continue long after I am gone.”
Bruce personally helped curate the museum and the tour guide told us Bruce had been at the center just two days before hanging out. He even pointed out the seat where he sat during the movie. And he told us that right as we were sitting there, Bruce was DJ-ing the local college radio station which he does on Sunday mornings when he is around.
Anyway, I didn’t know what to expect other than everything Bruce does is awesome, but the first display I looked at had….get this….the original handwritten lyrics to John Mellencamp’s “Pink Houses,” the guitar Kurt Cobain’s used onstage, an Eddie Vedder guitar, a Prince suit & guitar and…..a guitar Eddie Van Halen used onstage for “Frankenstein”!!!
Buddy Holly writing home to Mom while on tour.
And don’t get me started on the handwritten letter from Buddy Holly to his Mom while he was on his first tour of the east coast as The Crickets. They were the only white band on the bill. That is actual history on par with the Magna Carta or whatever. I returned to stare at it numerous times.
Tickets for the center were only $20 and between the movie and the actual first display case I looked into I already had my money’s worth.
The museum is only two floors. The first floor focuses on American Music, the second floor is Bruce and E Street Band stuff. It is very manageable. A casual music fan would have a great time in an hour or two, but music nerds could spend all day there.
There is an archive room on the second floor which requires a timed admission because it is basically the size of a classroom stocked with thousands of magazines, books, and 10 computers with unique Bruce content that is updated and rotated monthly.
I could have spent all day in this room.
Other spaces I enjoyed were a room dedicated solely to Bruce’s favorite books and another theater showing rare live performances of Bruce and the E Street band through the years. The videos were presented chronologically and it was a moving experience to watch the band age over the years and still bring the magic. By the time we got to “Thunder Road” in Italy 2025 with Bruce holding hands with the adoring crowd I got misty-eyed.
But the big takeaway Bruce promoted at the music center was that we are all in this together. Music in all its forms - jazz, rock, soul, country, blues, folk, doo-wop, metal and whatever I’m forgetting - is part of the human experience. Dividing us into genres is just a ploy to take our money or get our vote. It is all one big story and we are all part of it.
And another valuable part of the human experience is lifelong learning. It was refreshing to hear Bruce say he had never heard of John Lee Hooker until after he listened to Led Zeppelin. Or he had never listened to Hank Williams until he was 35 years old. Or Pete Seeger until he was 50. Most hipsters pretend they just were born with all this knowledge, and it can feel depressing/intimidating to the rest of us who are just trying to keep up. Bruce comes clean with his ignorance, which made me feel better about all the things I have yet to discover.
Living proof we can all find a new favorite book, album, movie or person at any point in our lives. Just stay curious.
Anyway, we had just enough time before the wedding to stop by the Stone Pony on the Boardwalk in Asbury Park. Watershed had once been scheduled to play this holy rock n roll shrine opening for the Insane Clown Posse but the show was canceled an hour before doors because their giant clown head prop wouldn’t fit through the front door. It was already dark that night when we pulled up in our van, were told the show was off, and we did a U-turn and just simply drove away.
It was nice to see The Pony in daylight. (And it is right by the beach! I didn’t know!) and we visited the Asbury Park Convention Center where so many legendary bands played. And I got an amazing slice of pizza while staring at sunbathers and the waves crashing. This all took less than 30 minutes. Value.
So if you find yourself near the Jersey shore, definitely make a stop at the Bruce Springsteen Center For American Music. Do it for rock n roll or in the name of lifelong learning. Stay curious, my friends.
Colin Gawel plays solo and in the band Watershed. He founded Pencilstorm and wrote this in between serving customers at Colin’s Coffee in Columbus, Ohio.