Last year, there was a story about how legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen, 60, was named as the other party in the divorce of a 45 year-old New Jersey housewife named Ann Kelly. Both Springsteen and Kelly, who works out at his gym, denied the affair. The National Enquirer had a follow-up story that claimed that Kelly was stalking Springsteen and that he wanted nothing to do with her. Springsteen has been married for almost 19 years to backup singer Patti Scialfa. They have three children together: Evan, 20, Jessica, 19, and Samuel, 16. (Note that those ages are just based on the year so any of those ages may technically be a few months premature.) Rumor had it that Springsteen hooked up with Scialfa when he was still married to Julianne Phillips. He was also thought to have had an affair with a 9/11 widow he met at a fundraiser. He denied that claim. Bruce’s wife Patti, the 9/11 widow, and this other woman Ann Kelly are all striking redheads.

Anyway there are new court papers in Kelly’s divorce that describe how the alleged romance with Springsteen developed. The two met at the gym, started going to lunch together, and Kelly was smitten with the rugged rock star. She was gifted tickets to sit in the front row while he performed and he supposedly sent her Valentine’s Day cards without signing them so her husband wouldn’t find out. From the details in The NY Post, there are no specific allegations of hotel hookups or sex, but he does claim it was a full affair and it sounds like there was plenty of romance there. Here are some highlights, with more at the source:

Arthur says Ann told him that Springsteen, 60, would stand at the end of her treadmill as she ran. It must have been a tempting vantage point for the “Thunder Road” singer because he once told Ann she had the “nicest ass” in the gym, Arthur says.

Workouts spilled into lunches at a nearby cafe, with Ann’s two daughters sometimes tagging along. The children got to know Springsteen so well that they called him “Bruce,” according to court records.

The wide-ranging chats Ann had with Springsteen got into politics. When the blue-collar hero and liberal icon learned that Ann was conservative, he gave her two books to read.

Being with Bruce brightened Ann’s day. She allegedly told Arthur’s mother several times that “it made her feel good that Bruce Springsteen was very interested in her,” the papers say.

The housewife allegedly conscripted her friends to be on Springsteen watch.

In 2006, one friend supposedly left a voice mail on Ann’s phone saying, “I got your message, and there were no Bruce sightings at the gym today…”

Springsteen seemed smitten — Arthur alleges in court papers that The Boss told Ann that he thought about her while he was on tour.

There were other signs, Arthur says. In 2007 and 2008, unsigned Valentine’s Day cards without stamps or postmarks showed up in the Kellys’ mailbox in West Long Branch.

Springsteen personally gave Ann front-row tickets to concert rehearsals on Sept. 24 and 25, 2007, for his “Magic Tour” shows at the Convention Hall in Asbury Park. Ann was so floored by The Boss’ crooning, she allegedly told Arthur’s mother, “It felt like Bruce Springsteen was singing to me.”

In 2008, Ann allegedly opted to be with Springsteen rather than her ailing husband. While Arthur had open-heart surgery in Cleveland, the singer joined her at a table at the Turning Point restaurant in Pier Village in Long Branch.

As part of the divorce settlement, Arthur took the adultery claim out of his petition and both parties agreed not to talk to the media. At her West Long Branch home last week, Ann declined to comment to The Post. In past divorce filings, she has denied a sexual relationship with Springsteen. However, during a deposition over the summer, she declined to answer any questions about the singer, court papers show.

The breaking point in the marriage allegedly came when Arthur told Ann a witness had spotted her kissing Springsteen in the parking lot of their gym. Arthur also claimed that the day before he filed for divorce, Ann admitted to him that her “relationship with Bruce Springsteen was inappropriate.”

[From The NY Post]

So did Springsteen cheat with this woman, was he just having an “emotional affair,” or was it an innocent friendship? It’s still possible that this woman became fixated on him and that he was just friendly with her, but I doubt it. Often in this type of case a man will deny everything and say the woman is crazy or that she was just a friend. Sometimes that’s true, but when married people are secretly meeting for lunch dates and and sending cards to each other it’s not like they’re just friends. That either leads to something more eventually or is pretty solid evidence that there’s already an affair.

Bruce Springsteen and his wife, Patti, on 9/4/07. Credit: WENN.com

We’ve heard all sorts of stories about how Bruce Springsteen was supposedly cheating on his wife of 16 years, Patti Scialfa, with a New Jersey woman named Ann Kelly who is currently divorcing her husband. Springsteen was named as the other party in divorce papers filed by Kelly’s husband, a charge both Springsteen and Ann Kelly deny. Kelly knows Springsteen from two different gyms where they have both worked out over the years, but her dad told the NY Daily News she has only a friendly relationship with the rock star.

According to the latest issue of the National Enquirer, Kelly isn’t a friend of Springsteen at all and is more like a rabid fan who won’t leave him alone. They claim Springsteen “barely knows her” and is “freaked out” by this allegation from a woman who “stalked and pestered him” for years.

Bruce Springsteen… was recently named as the “other man” in a New Jersey couple’s divorce, but a source close to Bruce claims the woman involved hounded The Boss for years!

“The wife stalked Bruce and pestered him, but he didn’t have an affair with her. He’s freaked out that he was named in her divorce because he barely knows her,” a music insider told The Enquirer.

“This is a classic case of someone taking advantage of Bruce just because he’s famous.”…

The source maintains Ann Kelly avidly pursued the 59-year-old musician. “When Bruce was a member at The Atlantic [fitness] Club in Red Bank, this woman would manage to ‘run into’ him when he was working out and start chatting him up like they were old friends,” said the insider.

“When Bruce moved to Gold’s Gym in Long Branch, she suddenly began showing up there, as well.”

Ann Kelly also pursued Springsteen at the Chapel Beach Club in Sea Bright, N.J., where he relaxed alone in a cabana during the summer, said the source.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, April 27, 2009]

If this is true, you can see how Ann Kelly’s husband would assume she’s having an affair with Springsteen. She may have talked about him constantly and acted like she was going to see him when she was just trying to find him. I hope for Bruce’s sake he’s absolved of these cheating claims if this is just a case of an obsessed fan. A lot of people were willing to believe he was responsible since he hooked up with Patti when he was still married to his first wife and was accused of cheating on Patti three years ago with a 9/11 widow he met at a fundraiser – who also happened to be a hot redhead like his wife. Springsteen denied that he was cheating back then and he’s still with Patti. We’ll have to see how this unfolds but I tend to believe the Enquirer and both Springsteen and this woman’s denial. Maybe this stalker even dyed her hair red because she knows that’s his preference.

Bruce Springsteen has been named in a New Jersey couple’s divorce filing as “the other man.” Businessman Arthur Kelly, a resident of Monmouth Country, New Jersey, claims that his wife Anna committed adultery with Bruce Springsteen.

One of Star Magazine’s sources claims that Bruce and Anna are “just friends” but “there have been rumors… for more than a year that they had gotten way too close after meeting at a local gym.” Bruce is 59 years old, and is the father of three children with his second wife, Patti Scialfa. Back in the day (1988), Patti was rumored to be “the other woman” in Bruce’s first marriage to Julianne Phillips. So is there anything there besides rumor and innuendo?

A heartbroken husband has claimed in sensational court papers that rock ‘n’ roll legend Bruce Springsteen has been making beautiful music on the sly with his wife!

In divorce filed on March 27 in Monmouth County, N.J. Superior Court and obtained by Star, businessman Arthur Kelly alleges that Ann, his wife of 17 years, “committed adultery with one Bruce Springsteen, who resides in Rumson, N.J., and Colts Neck, N.J., at various times and places too numerous to mention.”

Bruce, 59, has been married to his second wife, backup singer Patti Scialfa, 53 — with whom he has three children — also for 17 years.

A source tells Star, “Ann says she and Bruce are just friends, but there have been rumors going around the area for more than a year that they had gotten way too close after meeting at a local gym.”

Neither Ann nor Bruce responded to multiple requests for comment. When contacted, Arthur — who has moved out of the family home in West Long Branch into a nearby condo — told Star: “I don’t want to comment at this time, but I do appreciate your asking me.” His attorney, Edward Fradkin, tells Star, “The papers speak for themselves.”

This isn’t the first time Bruce has been caught up in a cheating scandal. Published reports early in the summer of 1988 alleged that he was romancing his backup singer-turned-wife, Patti, behind the back of his first wife, actress Julianne Phillips.

In 2006, Bruce denied a published report that he’d had an affair with a beautiful 9/11 widow from New Jersey whom he’d met in 2001.

[From Star Magazine]

“The papers speak for themselves.” That’s a tough stance. If it’s untrue, my guess is Bruce will likely issue a statement sometime soon. He probably just didn’t want to give his comment to Star. From what I’ve read about Bruce in the past, he doesn’t really have a zipper problem. He’s not just some casual womanizer, I tend to think he’s a romantic. Of course, even romantics cheat. They just call it “falling in love with someone else.”

Here’s Bruce performing at a Barack Obama campaign rally in October. Images thanks to WENN .

Bruce Springsteen has, just days after a triumphant performance at the inauguration, been criticized for selling his greatest hits CD exclusively at Walmart.

In an interview with The New York Times, Bruce Springsteen says he shouldn’t have made a deal with Wal-Mart. This month, the store started exclusively selling a Springsteen greatest-hits CD.

Some fans were critical because Springsteen has been a longtime supporter of worker’s rights, and Wal-Mart has faced criticism for its labour practices. Springsteen’s team didn’t vet the issue as closely as it should have, and that he “dropped the ball on it,” he told the Times for a story to be published in Sunday editions and previewed on its Web site.

Springsteen went on to say: “It was a mistake. Our batting average is usually very good, but we missed that one. Fans will call you on that stuff, as it should be.”

“Millions of Springsteen fans have counted on Wal-Mart over the years to deliver his music into their lives, and we will continue to offer those fans this ‘Greatest Hits’ exclusive and his other popular albums at unbeatable prices,” Wal-Mart said in a statement, adding: “We are proud of the good jobs, benefits and career opportunities we provide to more than 1.4 million U.S. associates who choose to work at Wal-Mart and serve our customers every day.”

AP via New Zealand Herald

Walmart has been criticized for its refusal to recognize unions, and generally bad treatment of low waged employees, particularly by not providing health insurance. They have also been accused of discriminating against women/gays/non-Caucasians. So, generally, they aren’t a popular company to go through. Bruce Springsteen, because of the theme of many of his songs and his background, is considered a voice of the American worker.

While I know Wal-Marts employer-employee relations have much to be desired, should that stop you from selling your product in their stores? Plenty of working class people shop at Wal-Mart, because it offers low prices, often to the detriment of suppliers and local businesses. Kudos to Bruce though – he has admitted that it probably wasn’t the right choice, but there’s little he can do about it now. I guess if you want to protest the best way would be to not shell out the $10.99 for his 12-track greatest hits CD.

In the same interview Bruce talks about singing at Obama’s inauguration.

At a New York City Obama fund-raiser in October that Mr. Springsteen attended, Mr. Obama said, “The reason I’m running for president is because I can’t be Bruce Springsteen.” Mr. Springsteen played “The Rising” at campaign events in battleground states, including a rally in Cleveland two days before the election.

“Once you start doing that kind of writing, it feeds off itself,” Mr. Springsteen said. “You write ‘The Rising’ for this, it gets picked up and used for that, so you end up here. If someone had told me in 2001 that ‘you’re going to sing this song at the inaugural concert for the first African-American president,’ I’d have said, ‘Huh?’ ” He laughed.

“But eight years go by, and that’s where you find yourself. You’re in there, you’re swimming in the current of history and your music is doing the same thing.”

New York Times

If someone had told me while I worked night shift and watched the twin towers fall, that in eight years conservative George Bush would lose to a young (well, young for politics) African-American Democrat, I would have had much the same reaction.

Bruce Springsteen is shown performing at a campaign rally for Obama in Philadelphia on 10/5/08. Credit: WENN

Bruce Springsteen is shown at a Superbowl halftime press conference in Tampa on 1/29/09. Credit: PRPhotos

Barak Obama did some last minute campaigning this weekend. With the election on Tuesday, Obama covered some of Ohio’s most important cities including Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. Longtime Democrat Bruce Springsteen sang at a really in Cleveland and was joined on stage with his wife Patti and the Obamas.

Sunday, with just two days left, Barack Obama woke in Missouri and flew to Ohio to canvas the state. After a rally in Columbus, Obama, along with wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia, flew to Cleveland for another rally. There Obama was joined by supporter Bruce Springsteen, who also came with his wife Patti and son Sam. Then it was to Cincinnati.

[From the Huffington Post]

One of my roommates has been volunteering for the Obama campaign for the last month and I’m truly amazed to hear about all the incredibly hard work people around the country have put into his campaign. This is a man that clearly garners a great deal of respect and admiration and arouses a lot of excitement in many people. Looking at the photos below says so much about how moved his supporters are. They’re truly emotional, passionate pictures.

Tomorrow’s a future-changing day. No matter who you support, make sure you vote!

Most girls go through that “I want a pony” stage at some point in their lives, and a lot of them get stuck there. I think kids have an animal begging hierarchy that goes something like this: goldfish, hamster/assorted small furry creatures, turtle, rabbit, cat, dog, pony. So you have to get pretty far along in the system to be begging for a pony, but most families have a cat or a dog, so it’s not a big leap. I never got beyond the goldfish, and eventually had to settle for a crap-ass hedgehog (my mom bribed an allergist to tell me I was allergic to fur), so begging for a pony never entered my mind. But I remember all those girls in school that would spend hours drawing ponies, focusing on their long manes and the intricacies of their legs. That job was a little quicker when drawing the hedgehog. Anyway, it seems Bruce Springsteen’s daughter is no exception in the pony loving, and with a dad like Bruce, you can get yourself a mighty fine equine. Just how fine? Well the cost of a luxurious house fine.

“Rock musician Bruce Springsteen and his wife are being sued by an Olympic equestrian for allegedly backing out of a contract to buy a horse worth $850,000 for their daughter. The Olympian, Todd Minikus, filed the breach of contract suit Thursday in West Palm Beach County, Fla. It claims Springsteen and his wife, Patti Scialfa, reneged on a deal. The Springsteens were to purchase the horse from Minikus by paying him $650,000 and give him a horse they already own that was worth $200,000, according to the lawsuit.

“According to the lawsuit, the Springsteens – who live in Monmouth County and own Stone Hill Farm _ put a $25,000 deposit on the horse, named Pavarotti, in July. However, they later had second-thoughts about whether the animal was right for their teenage daughter, Jessica, the second of their three children. The suit describes the Springsteens’ daughter as ‘a budding young rider,’ and says she rode Pavarotti twice in a “schooling ring” in Lake Placid, N.Y. The Springsteens also had their vet examine the horse before signing the contract, the suit says.

“The sale was to be completed by Aug. 24, according to the suit, with the Springsteens paying Minikus the $625,000 balance before receiving Pavarotti and turning over a horse named Scarlett as part of the trade. Minikus is seeking damages, and compensation for the continued daily upkeep of Pavarotti. He claims the horse has diminished in value since the Pan Am Games, in part because the famous couple backed out of a deal to buy the animal.”

[From Newsday]

Oh man, to even have half of that money to spend on a house would make 99% of Americans pretty darn happy. But to have it to spend on a horse? I don’t know if they’re stupid for not just buying the damn thing (it’s probably like $38 would be to me and you) or really smart for not spending $850,000 on a horse. But like I said, I was never so advanced in my bargaining skills as to have a pet that didn’t lead to spiky pain. I wonder what would make a parent consider buying their teenager an $850,000 anything? I mean we’d be all over a celebrity for spending that much on their kid’s car (though I’m sure it’s happened). Yet somehow a horse is just so much quainter, that I don’t feel I should mock it. So here’s to you, Bruce Springsteen, for having the cojones to almost buy what I can only assume is a diamond-encrusted flying horse.

Picture Note by Jaybird: Here’s Bruce and Patti after performing on “The Late Show” on September 4th. Images thanks to PR Photos.