By Muriel J. Smith
RUMSON – Of course Steve Wondrash loves Bruce Springsteen’s music. Of course he’s a fanatical enough fan that he’s traveled to more than half a dozen countries to hear him in concert. Of course he knows every word of just about every song Bruce has ever sung or written.
But none of these is the real reason why Steve is such an avid follower of the popular Freehold native.
The real reason is Bruce Springsteen’s music reaches Steve Wondrash’s soul in a way that raises his awareness, encourages his spirit, and boosts his passion of the message.
Steve Wondrash admires Bruce Springsteen’s activism, his way of bringing the problems of the world into the forefront of everyone’s eyes and heart through the magic of music. Like Guthrie, Or Dylan, or Seeger.
Wondrash, who divides his time between his home in Rumson and his home in New York – of course, on 82nd Street, like the song – has been an avid follower of Springsteen since Wondrash’s sister went to school with Steve Van Zandt when the families lived in New Monmouth. That encouraged Wondrash to listen to Springsteen and his band and pick up “Wild and Innocent.” That was in 1974, and “I’ve been sold ever since,” Wondrash proudly admits.
“His music just resonates for me,” the Rumson resident said, “the lyrics and music of ‘Rosalita’ captured me from the first time I heard it. I went to my first concert at Madison Square Garden and I’ve gone to every one I can manage to attend ever since.”
Those high school days hold a lot of fine musical memories for Wondrash. Nick Campanile was principal at Middletown High School North at the time, and, as Wondrash tells it, “for some reason he liked me. He let me go through the halls with my boom box playing music as loud as I did, with a contingent of 40 people or so with me. Music simply talks to me.”
In those days, Wondrash couldn’t afford or manage to get a hold of the “good seats” at a concert, and often was relegated to the back row or close to it. But that isn’t the way it is any more. Now, more often he’s in the front row, or if not there, certainly very close. It’s important to him, he readily admits, because “he’s an inspiration, he gives me an ability to spiritually connect to his lyrics. He makes me believe in his land of hope and dreams.”
Wondrash worked for a pharmaceutical company for a long time, which gave him the opportunity to travel both nationally and internationally and see the Springsteen concerts. It’s “a little more challenging now,” he admits, “but certainly not impossible.” He has a wonderful fiancée, he points out quickly, who understands his connection to Springsteen, and his need to attend concerts alone. “She’s fantastic, and patient, and understanding. She knows this is simply ‘my thing’ and she understands it.”
Though Wondrash has never formally met Springsteen, he is connected to him in a particularly unique way. He attends the concerts clutching T-shirts – “because you can hold them” – which are stenciled to be seen more easily when he raises them during the concert with a fitting message. Sometimes Springsteen acknowledges them; once he motioned to him to turn so the cameras would be sure to pick up the image. “I’ve never formally been introduced to Bruce,” Wondrash says, “I wouldn’t think of invading his privacy. But I do feel connected to him as a fan.”
To date, Wondrash has attended 237 Bruce Springsteen concerts, a total he can rattle off without a moment’s hesitation, adding, “and I’ve got the tickets for every one of them.” Now that tickets are available online, he said he has to print them out, but nonetheless, he’s got them. That’s in addition to all the local venues, the fundraisers, the bars where Bruce has played. But he’s never seen him at the Stone Pony.
He’s attended concerts in Spain, Italy, Ireland, England, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic and so many more. He laments the fact his plans to attend a concert in South Africa were cancelled because of a death in Wondrash’s own family.
“Spain…that’s the best,” the exuberant fan announces, “there’s so much energy among the Spanish people, I don’t know what it is, but the energy of the audience is so much different there.” He’s attended concerts all over the United States, missing one in Tennessee, but has concluded that Springsteen is so much more appreciated and popular in Europe than he is in his own country right now. “Maybe we’re not listening enough here,” he concludes, in trying to determine why European fans seem so much more attached to Springsteen, “I’d love to hear his opinion on this.”
Wondrash believes that like himself, Springsteen is a spiritual man, not driven by a religious connection or a particular church affiliation, but more with a connection to music. “He used his upbringing to write about struggles of the people,” he said. “He knows that the food for the spirit is music. I not only understand that, but know that it’s so. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, he was a storyteller, today, his spirit is connected to meaning and message…and I love the passion of his message.”
While “Rosalita” continues to touch Wondrash in a very special way, he admires Springsteen’s “Death of My Home Town,” as a political statement in which he raised awareness and is turning things around.
“I’ve never been one on one with him,” he acknowledges. “I like to be there in the audience to feel the energy; he has shaped my values, he has spoken to my soul.”
