The Big Man himself, Clarence Clemons, was part one of the opening keynote speech at BookExpo America last evening.

The keynote was delivered in an interview-style format with the hilarious author Chuck Klosterman as the moderator.

Clarence, the legendary sax player from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, was joined onstage by his writing partner, Don Reo, as he discussed life as a rock star as well as his forthcoming book, Big Man: Real Life and Tall Tales. The book sounds fascinating and I cannot wait to read it when it comes out this fall.

The highlight of the segment, and an unexpected delight, was Clarence discussing AND PERFORMING his phenomenal sax solo from “Jungleland.”

I’ve seen them play this one live umpteen times over the last 32 years, but on this night to see the Big Man play it up close and personal all by himself brought more than a few tears to my eyes.

Are you kidding me?!?!?!? I was in the fourth row watching an icon perform one of the all-time great solos in rock and roll history.  A wonderfully delightful and surreal experience!

I was totally captivated as Clarence told the story of recording the solo, just him and Bruce in the studio for 16 straight hours, an event he called “The greatest learning experience of my life.”

This was indeed groovy, folks!