When did you officially join Springsteeen and the E Street Band?
NL: May of 1984. I maintained a distant friendship with Bruce because I had always been a fan. We both frequented the same studios in Los Angeles, take drives and talk a bit. I always admired Bruces work ethic and his tunnel vision to do things right. In 1984, when he needed a guitarist, I got the first call. I jammed with the band for a few days, it felt good, and I joined. Q: So you had no involvement then with the recording of “Born In The USA?” NL: Not a note. In fact about four or five months prior to that, I went up to spend a weekend with New Jersey and he had just finished the record. CBS did a good job of keeping the recording under wraps. I spent the weekend with him going to bars and jamming, talking a lot. He was a bachelor in his home, the same one he still has, and we just hung out. I was kind of down in the dumps then, and he was offering support. We played his record in the car and at his home, and I was just fascinated with it and thought it was the best record hed eve
