Big Man the Book

Foreward by Bruce

This book gets as close to the ‘truth’ about Clarence Clemons as I can imagine. Mere facts will never plumb the mysteries of the Big Man. That being said, there are only one or two stories in this book that I could swear are not true. All the rest are adventures that may and could have happened to my great friend…Read More

A Note From Clarence and Don

This is not a standard memoir. We are storytellers, and the sections labeled “Legend” are quite simply, stories that we have told over the years in cars, bars, planes, trains, and rooms in hotels and hospitals…Read More

From the Massive Desk of Clarence Clemons

I wanted to give the reader a glimpse into the personal and private side of our relationship without getting too personal and private. I hope we accomplished that. …Read More

Prologue – New York City, 2008

We were sitting in his hospital room overlooking the East River. He’d had his second knee-replacement surgery two days before. The other knee had been replaced two weeks ago.
“Don’t talk like that”, I said. “You’re going to be fine.”Read More

Chapter One

The man and woman had walked two miles from their home through the cold December evening to see him. They rarely went out these days. Babysitters were a luxury they couldn’t afford. But when the man had seen the ad in the paper saying Sill Austin was booked at Frankie’s Lounge, he knew they had to find a way to go. They’d listened to the recordings over and over…Read More

Untold Stories

The Legend of Nebraska 1982

Clarence and Norman Mailer were driving cross-country in the Rolls. They kept the top down most of the time. Somewhere in Nebraska Clarence was driving when “Meeting Across The River” came on the radio. Clarence turned it off with the first notes of Randy Becker’s trumpet. If Norman noticed he didn’t say anything. He sat back with his eyes closed sunning himself. He looked like a giant turtle sitting in the front seat of a rock sailing through a river of time…Read More

The Legend of Spyglass Hill 1985

Clarence stood on the first tee swinging a new Big Bertha driver. He’d hit a few balls on the range and most of the pain in his left hip had retreated. It was an irritating kind of pain that had begun within the last year. It was just after seven o’clock in the morning and the Big Man was going out as a single with a caddy called ‘Sticks”. It was easy to see how he’d earned the nickname…Read More

The Legend in New York City 2005

Clarence and Bill had been friends for about ten years. They were introduced by Mike Lupica who was a fan of both and knew that they’d hit it off. Bill was not a fan of Bruce per se and hated going to concerts. His relationship with Clarence was based on the fact that he liked him…Read More

The Unpublished Prologue

“Clarence and I were in a beat up old single engine Cessna piloted by an eighteen-year-old kid from Australia named Skipper. We were in the air flying across Africa at dangerously low levels. There was no air conditioning and it was sweltering inside the tiny cabin that held the three of us and our luggage. We were en route from the tiny town of Vol headed for Mombassa where we would meet the boat”…Read More