Nils Lofgren: Eye-popping past, poignantly present (AP)

Lofgren — who was struck by creative lightning at a Jimi Hendrix concert, plucked from relative obscurity as a tenacious teen by Neil Young, and went on to go guitar-to-guitar with Bruce Springsteen — shared some of his eye-popping past, and his heart-wrenching present, in a freewheeling interview with The Associated Press.

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It was not to be. The Big Man's funeral was held on Lofgren's 60th birthday. "Turning 60 is a pretty big deal," said Lofgren. "And if someone said, `List 10 million awful things you don't want to do on your birthday,'" he never, in his most "diabolical" musing, could have fathomed that. Lofgren returned to stage Wednesday night, wearing a vulnerable expression as the spotlight revealed him. Employing his ethereal voice, guitar pyrotechnics, piano, harp and even his tap shoes, the versatile musician instantly whipped the crowd into a frenzy at New York's historic Tarrytown Music Hall. And soon, he was smiling, too — doing his trademark spins, playing guitar with his teeth, recalling how a feisty, 85-year-old Cab Calloway once gave him hell as they did a TV show together.

Nils Lofgren: Eye-popping past, poignantly present (AP)