Springsteen Honored in Warm-Up to the Grammys

Bruce Springsteen was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year at an annual concert in Los Angeles on Friday, where an all-star lineup of performers did songs from his catalogue to raise money for indigent musicians.

The Recording Academy puts on the MusiCares concert and charity auction every year two nights before the Grammy awards. The charity is a subsidiary of the Recording Academy, and the gala is one of the major parties leading up to the awards ceremony on Sunday.

Mr. Springsteen got into the spirit of a charity auction held just before the event. Organizers asked him and several of the stars at the event sign a new Telecaster guitar in hopes of auctioning it for at least $50,000. The master of ceremonies, David Foster, who is also the chairman of Verve Music Group, waded through the tables collecting signatures from the likes of Elton John and Tim McGraw, but was having trouble getting people in the crowd to open up their wallets./p>

Then Mr. Springsteen sweetened the deal. He jumped up and bellowed: “With this guitar comes one free guitar lesson from me. That’s right. One free lesson. One hour. And a ride in the sidecare of my Harley Davidson. So dig in you one percenters!”

The bidding started to escalate rapidly as the crowd, which included some of Los Angeles’s most affluent families, roared with laughter. As the bids spiraled up, Mr. Springsteen added more to his offer: free tickets to his next concert, backstage passes, a tour of the backstage conducted by himself. Finally he threw in a homemade lasagna made by his mother, who was present.

In the end, the guitar sold to an unindentified woman for $250,000. She gave the Boss a hug.

Jon Stewart, the comedian who is a close friend of Mr. Springsteen, hosted the event. He pointed out that Mr. Springsteen was one of the few things New Jersey natives like himself have to be proud of.

“We don’t have m! uch,” he said. “We are known mostly as the chief exporter in this country of carcinogens. Bruce Springsteen is all we have.”

Mr. Stewart said that, when he was a young man, he worked in a bar called “The Bottom Half,” which was so called because it was downstairs from a liquor store, and drove a 1969 Gremlin, a car so ugly that it assured no self-respecting young woman would go out with him. In those days, he said he took comfort from Mr. Springsteen’s songs. “I would put on a tape of Bruce’s songs and I would think ‘I am not a loser. I am a character in an epic poem about losers.’”

The concert featured several memorable performances. Mumford & Sons offered a aching, bluegrass-tinged version of “I’m on Fire.” Patti Smith brought the crowd to their feet with her her hit “Because the Night,” which she co-wrote with Mr. Springsteen in the 1970s.

Jim James and Tom Morello did a powerful rocking rendition of “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” which Mr. Morello’sband Rage Against the Machine has recorded. John Legend offered a jazzed-up take on “Dancing in the Dark,” accompanying himself on piano. Jackson Browne drilled down into “American Skin,” driving home the song’s message about racism, and Elton John gave a fierce spin to “Streets of Philadelphia.”

Several country artists, who seem to find a kindred spirit in New Jersey’s rock poet, also helped out the cause. Tim McGraw sang “Tougher than the Rest” with Faith Hill singing harmony, and Kenny Chesney did his rendition of “One Step Up.” Emmylou Harris chose to sing “My Hometown.” Other performances came from Sting, Alabama Shakes, Zac Brown and Mavis Staples.

It remained unclear on Friday night how much the dinner raised for the organization, which provides financial aid, drug treatment and medical care to musicians who are struggling with financial trouble or health problems.