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The Seger File An unofficial web site about the music of Bob Seger Updated September 19, 2006 Written and edited by Scott Sparling sparling@segerfile.com

The Full Contents Search the Seger File The 2011 Tour Page   Latest News and Updates   FACE THE PROMISE   2010 Updates 2009 Updates 2008 Updates 2007 Updates (Jan -July) 2006 Updates (Jan-Sept) 2006 Updates (Oct-Dec.) 2005 Updates 2004 Updates 2003 Updates (July-Dec) 2003 Updates (Jan-June) 2002 Updates 2001 Updates 1998-2000 Updates     Nine Years Online The Seger File's Birthday Party   Unreleased Tracks Vault V 10 more unreleased tracks   Vault 4 16 more unreleased tracks   Forward Into the Vault -- 26 more unreleased tracks   Return to the Vault -- 18 More Unreleased Tracks   The Vault --31 Unreleased Tracks   Recorded but Unreleased --Unreleased Seger from A-Z   Photos Photos 1Photos 2   Photos 3Photos 4   Hall of Fame Photos   Settle Annex A collection of great Seger photos   Misc. Dylan's "Denver"   The Albums Ramblin' Gamblin' Man Noah Mongrel Brand New Morning Smokin' O.P.'s Back in '72 Seven Beautiful Loser Live Bullet Night Moves Stranger in Town Against the Wind Nine Tonight The Distance Like A Rock The Fire Inside Bob Seger's Greatest Hits It's A Mystery Greatest Hits 2 Face the Promise   Other Albums The Promised Live Album The Promised Studio Album Seger on the Edge The Bob Seger Collection --(Australian Greatest Hits) Seger Classics A Very Special Christmas,1987 Other Album Appearances The Seger Tribute Album Sing Your Own Seger Perfect Albums?   Selected Singles Check the Label Who Picks the Singles? Early Singles The Lonely One TGIF/First Girl Ballad of the Yellow Beret East Side Story Persecution Smith Sock It To Me, Santa Vagrant Winter/Very Few Heavy Music 2+2=?/Death Row Ramblin' Gamblin' Man Looking Back If I Were A Carpenter Bombs Away Understanding Chances Are My Take on Chances Are Reaching Number One   Other Seger Tracks Released on Singles, But Not on Albums Covered by Others Written By Seger, Recorded by Others   Videos Night Moves (SNL) Making Thunderbirds Old Time Rock and Roll American Storm Like a Rock Shakedown Real Love Fire Inside Night Moves (New) Turn the Page It's A Mystery Chances Are Ten for Two The Cobo Hall Tapes The Palace Tapes   Influences/Other Bands Soundtracks   TV Appearances   Like a Truck Who Does the Song Belong To? Ancient History Dept. How Seger Sees Rock/Truck Singer or Salesman? Gatsby, Seger and Victory The Mystery Man How the Song Became An Ad Good Song, Great Ad? Bad Press, Bad Precedent Through the Lean Years Bob's View Insults and Dead Horses Fix Or Repair Daily   The Early Years Early Days Motor City's Burning Places He Played Jackson More Dues-Paying Years   Career, Misc. Lead Singer Vs. Guitar Player The Slow Road to Success The Requisites of Greatness Theories: Why It Took So Long "You Are Now Leaving Seger Territory" Punch Breaking Out What Is Success?   Bands Early Bands The Decibels The Town Criers The Omens Democracy Rocks Later Bands Bob Seger and the Last Heard The Bob Seger System STK Julia/My Band/Borneo Band Muscle Shoals band The Silver Bullet Band Back-up Systems Shaun Murphy Karen Newman Related Bands Detroit All-Stars Alto Reed   Blue Highway (Drew Abbott)   Bio, Part 1 Detroit? Ann Arbor? We Even Sang the Parts the Instruments Were Playing A Father Leaves Fire and the Memory of Love All the Wild, Wild Good Times Personality Interests and Hobbies Predicting the Future, Then and Now   Bio, Part 2 On Growing Older Politics The Seger Work Ethic You Can't Miss That Driving Rain Friends and Family Let's Dig Up Something Really Nasty Katmandu I'm Gonna Tell My Tale, C'mon Of Caves and Barbed Wire Misc.   Songwriting   Early Tours and Shows The Oakland Mall Jackson The Primo, R&R Farm, Suds Factory and Chances Are The Agora On the Road Jackson County Fair Pontiac, the Michigan Jam and Other Victories Seger in the Arena The 1983 Tour   The 1986-87 Tour The Last Tour? They'll Never Be in The Arena, But They Get to Write the Reviews Savannah Charlotte Philadelphia Oakland Miami San Francisco Seattle Houston New York Los Angeles Vancouver (Canada) Greensboro   The 1996 Tour The Set List Discussed The Set List Presented The Set List Analyzed Bringing the Family Tour Notes Thirsty for Seger A Review of the Reviews Charleston Nashville Palace of Auburn Hills Washington L.A.   The 2006-07 Tour Pages   Readin' O.P.'s A compilation of e-mail messages. Some favorite are: -- Hope to see you tonight -- Motor City Rock -- The FargoDome -- The 7-Eleven and the Winter Olympics -- He gave me a strange look -- Now that we're older     Brand New Email More great letters. -- Seger, Sinatra, Cobain -- My Dad, Bob and Charlie Martin -- I work for General Motors -- Seger and Mohammad Ali -- The last thing I hear from Bob Seger -- Road trip to Ann Arbor -- I never spoke to Bob, but he always spoke to me     Brand New Email Pt. II -- Bob at the Roseland Inn -- Seger interview -- Backstage with a bad pass -- Put the car in park -- Starry August nights -- Cool me down -- The bridge from Motown -- The Seger-starved masses plead for tour news -- The Kiss File?   Seger Stories and Misc. Email --The best thing you could say --Blue and Julia   --Rockin' with Fidel   --Early days of baseball and Bob --Follow your heart   --Waving with the lighter   Email '05 --About Drew Abbott --On 2+2 --On "The Lonely One" --About Tom Neme --About Charlie Martin --Shows --The Toledo Jam --About Pep Perrine --About Jim Bruzzese --Early days --Fans --Early songs   Falsehoods Seger Inks SimTour Deal, Gets Ready to Rock Capitol Releases "Dee-Pah! The Seger Cam is back online The Michigan Jam 2 The Seger versus. SpringsteenComplexo-Meter The Medicated Top 20   Misc. Reese: Money for Music Get Back to Work A guide to surfing The Seger File at work. The Primo Photo The Rolling Stone Letter The Imaginary Interview Why the Seger File Is Here -- Getting Over Bob Seger

TV Appearances  Here's a partial listing of Seger's main TV appearances. Swingin' Time -- 1965 Seger's TV debut was February 9, 1965 on "Swingin' Time," a Windsor, Ontario TV music show hosted by CKLW-AM personality Robin Seymour during the mid-1960s. He performed "Persecution Smith,'' reportedly. Source: Gary Graff, August 28, 1986, Detroit Free Press. "Bob Seger storms home tonight." Seger later appeared on Swingin' Time again and performed "Heavy Music." Happenin' '68   Seger lip-synced "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man." Upbeat Seger lip-synced "Lucifer." ABC's In Concert, 1973   ABC filmed Bob Seger and the Borneo Band performing "Let It Rock" in 1973, as well as a performance by Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks. Seger fan Ken Settle was at the filming and says Seger gave a great performance -- the kind that might have broken him nationally. But when the program aired, only Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks appeared. The Midnight Special Seger was scheduled for The Midnight Special in May 1975. "The promo man has been telling me...if you have a record that's moving well, you get a bullet [on the Billboard charts]...well, we've gotten three weeks of bullets [for Katmandu] and they told us that's what we need, and supposedly now May 19th [1975] we'll be doing the Midnight Special." Spring 1975 radio interview.   Longtime Seger fan Ken Settle adds that the producers of the Midnight Schedule asked Seger to lip-sync on the show. He objected, and they gave in a little. Seger could sing live to a pre-recorded track, and the band would simply pretend to play. That wasn't acceptable to Seger either, and so the producers simply showed a clip of Seger performing in the Pontiac Silverdome. Don Kirshner's Roc Concert, 1976   Seger had to cancel a scheduled appearance on Rock Concert when he developed nodes on his vocal chords.   MTV "Liner Notes," 3-27-83. A twenty minute interview -- supposedly his first TV interview in thirteen years. Later With Bob Costas: 1987 A two-part interview. The Special Olympics Special on ABC   Seger appeared on an ABC TV special about the Special Olympics in August, 1991. The show included a segment on Seger's visit to Katmandu in support of the Special Olympics. Late Night With David Letterman, September 25, 1986 and October 14, 1986. On September 25, 1986, the Seger DEW line went to Red Alert. It was my friend Jesse, this time, warning me that Seger was scheduled to appear on David Letterman that night. I didn't have a VCR, so when Late Night started, I was there with my portable tape recorder propped up to the TV speaker. There was one problem, however. Seger never appeared. There was no word of explanation. About two weeks later, the DEW line went off again. Seger had been rescheduled. As Late Night opened, once again I was cross-legged on the floor, sitting close to the set, recorder propped by the TV for a monaural recording of the event. Once again, he didn't show. And, in a funny way, by not showing, he became the focal point of the show. The suspense about Seger's appearance ended right after the opening monologue. Dave explained that Seger had canceled for the second time and that a singer named Rosie Vella (?) is appearing instead. (MP3s of this portion of the show can be heard here.) Dave: That's twice now that Bob Seger has... Paul: Rosie Vella, though, came in and... Dave: Rosie Vella's here, a lovely woman and for my money, we'll be just as happy with her. Paul: Bob called today, though... Dave: He didn't call anybody. Paul: He called me. He called me at home. Dave: What did he say? Paul: He just wanted to make sure that I understood the very complicated circumstances -- Dave: Well, now, why didn't he call me? Paul: Well, I don't think he could get through to you. [Incredulous pause] Paul: ...uhhh Dave: Boy, it's hot in here. Why is it so hot in here? Offstage voice: [inaudible] Dave: ...Because the Mets won? Offstage voice: [inaudible] Dave: You mean this building is on the same circuit as Shea Stadium? [audience laughs] Dave: Bob Seger won't be with us tonight. He was supposed to be here two weeks ago and he wasn't here then, either, and then he said 'no, I'll come and do your show tonight,' and he's not here tonight! Paul: He called though and he said -- Dave: He called, and I went to see his show at the Garden, I enjoyed it, had a great time. Paul was there, Paul had a great time, but Bob won't be here tonight! Paul: He wanted to make sure you realized, you know, that it wasn't, you know, that it was just one of those complicated things -- Dave: No, I know exactly what it is, it's deadbeat musician behavior, that's what it is! Paul: Oooo! [Audience boos and groans] Dave: And I like this man! I enjoy his music and we were all looking forward to having him here, but, he won't be on! Can you beat that??! Paul: He never done television, you know. Dave: Well, so what? This is not real television, for heaven's sake! We're not talking about the Ed Sullivan Show or anything. Let's do a top ten list and try to put this ugliness behind us, shall we? Boy, my ears are burning. It's too hot in here. One more degree and I'm calling off the show. From the home office in Milwaukee, a Top Ten List, the top ten things I will never say on this television program -- boy, it's hot, goodness lord almighty it's hot...   [After the Top Ten List] Dave: I wish he'd been on the show. This deeply depresses me. This guy, we been trying to get on the show, actually, five full years, and he has not been able to do it. We had him tied up two weeks ago, he was gonna be here... Paul: Yeah. He had a cold that time. Dave: Yeah, he had a cold, but it didn't stop him from working the Garden that night. Paul: ...and you...went. Dave: I went there and I had a great time. I had a very nice time. Looking forward to seeing him here. Weren't we all looking forward to having him here? Audience: Yeah! Paul: He just doesn't understand, you know, the logistics of our...show and...how we... work in a...small studio... Dave: Well, what is there not to understand, Paul? Paul: Well, that, you know, that we don't usually, well, that we don't...have, you know, it's not like Don Kirshner's Rock Concert or anything anymore... Dave: Now wait a minute, that was the blueprint for this show! What do you mean? Paul: You patterned this show after Don Kirshner's Rock Concert?? Dave: It's so hot. You know, I'm almost in tears! It's that damn hot!   [During the commercial breaks, Paul Schaeffer and The World's Most Dangerous Band play a number of Seger tunes: Dave pretends it is Seger playing. Leading out of the first break, Schaeffer's band is playing "Old Time Rock and Roll."]   Dave: Thank you, thank you very much. [Points to Schaeffer]. Bob Seger, ladies and gentleman, and the Silver Bullet Band. Thank you, Bob! Paul: It's just that...he really...wanted to...play your favorite song...and it seemed that he needed, you know, certain things...like his whole big huge band to do it, and... Dave: ...He was going to play Climb Every Mountain from the Sound of Music? Paul: ...and he needed certain... Dave: I'm not buying it. He was supposed to be here two weeks ago, he weaseled out of that one, he was supposed to be here tonight, and he's weaseled out of this one. Paul: Well...that's that. Dave: Let's get on with the proceedings, shall we? Paul: Yeah...We better. Dave: My first guest this evening is a very good friend of ours, and also a very funny gentlemen. He has his own, very own, late night program which premieres on this network on November first, it's appropriately titled The Jay Leno Show. Folks, please welcome Jay Leno!   [Band leads out of next break with "Night Moves."] Dave: Thank you, Bob! Night Moves. Bob Seger and the boys, thank you. Bob Seger, of course, travelling all across the country right now on his very successful 'I Won't Be There' Tour.' [Audience hoots] Dave: Yeah, there'll be jackets and everything: The 'I Won't Be There' Tour!   [At the half-hour break] Dave: ...and coming up on tonight's program, New York Post photographer Lou Liotta and singer Rosie Vella...pinching hitting for Bob Seger...who's out with a pulled groin muscle...Bob won't be in the line-up tonight...   [Band leads out of last break with "We've Got Tonight."] Dave: Bob Seger telling us he knows it's late. Thank you, Bob!   (An interesting side note: As Carson ends, the NBC announcer reads a list of Dave's guests. Seger's name is not mentioned...ringing some early alarm bells with me...but as I listen to the tape ten years later, I'm surprised at whose name is announced...and by the way the announcer mangles it. Tonight, the NBC announcer says, "David welcomes Jay Leon...." It's obvious now that he meant Jay Leno, who was indeed on the show and did a knockout segment, ad libbing with Dave and working in a lot of his standup stuff.) The Today Show -- 1986 Seger was interviewed by Rona Elliot. In Concert '91 -- ABC Seger talked about his new album, "The Fire Inside." The segment included scenes showing the filming of the video for the title track. VHI -- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction The induction ceremony included a two-minute retrospective film. This shot is originally from Ten for Two, a documentary film of the Free John Sinclair concert in 1972. A video of the concert also aired on Michigan Public Television in the early 1970s. Entertainment Tonight -- September 4, 2006 See clip here. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno -- September 14, 2006 See clips here. Why Seger Avoided TV In an article from the early 1980's, Seger described why he avoided TV appearances, even though shows like the Midnight Special and the Don Kirshner Rock Hour tried to book him. Seger: "We think television is just not a really conducive thing to capturing the rock 'n' roll spirit. We've also been offered 'Saturday Night Live' and have been very flattered by the offer, but we made up our minds a long time ago to just leave TV alone. Let's be exclusive to live performances, and people will maybe someday thank us for that. So that's what we do." Steve Morse, September 11, 1980, Boston Globe. "Bob Seger Runs Against the Wind." According to the same article, the president of Capitol Records asked Seger to let ABC's "20/20" do a segment on him. Seger initially agreed, but then changed his mind. Seger: "They wanted to come to my home, and my lady and I didn't want them to do that. Then they wanted to go to my cabin, and I didn't want them to do that. And, they wanted me to walk around Ann Arbor and show them all these old houses I lived in, and I thought, 'Well, that's going to invade someone else's privacy,' so I didn't want to do that. And it just went on and on for about four days, and I called my manager and said, 'Hey, they haven't shot an inch of film, and you and I have been going crazy on the phone for four days. Find out how much it's going to cost for me to get out of it...[Ultimately] I paid $18,000 to get out of it...It came out of my pocket, too. "I don't want to be that well-known. As it is, I can pretty much walk down the street now, except for maybe in the Detroit area where I'm really well-known. But I can pretty much get away with walking around the United States, and I want to keep it that way. If you put your face on TV or in the movies, it's going to really change." Steve Morse, September 11, 1980, Boston Globe. "Bob Seger Runs Against the Wind." HBO tried to arrange a TV concert in the mid-1980s. "They (HBO) want to give us a bunch of money, but that's where I think you really get the burnout is when you expose your whole show... "When you expose all your best stuff, which is what they'd use, who would want to go see it? That's our theory. Concerts are like tribal events and you just can't capture that on a small screen, not to mention the sound. So I don't want to do it. My manager is promoting it, but I think it's counterproductive. It's not necessary...It's just a bunch of money, that's all." Steve Morse, Boston Globe, September 25, 1986. "Bob Seger Ready to Turn the Page."   SoundtracksMain MenuVideos   Do ya do ya wanna rock? Send your fond dreams, lost hopes, bittersweet regrets, half-remembered stories, rejoinders, rebuttals, questions, comments, corrections and contributions to: sparling@segerfile.com