Stevie Van Zandt Documentary: ‘I Walked My Dog For 7 Years’ After Leaving Music
Stevie Van Zandt is the topic of a new documentary, Disciple. While he told much of his story in his 2021 memoirs Unrequited Infatuations, the new doc also adds perspectives from a number of other big names, including Paul McCartney, Eddie Vedder, Bono, Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band, Jackson Browne, Darlene Love and, of course, Bruce Springsteen.
Judging from the recently released trailer, the doc will cover most of his story: his early days in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, his solo career, his efforts to organize the Artists United Against Apartheid project, Sun City, and his departure from music in the early ’90s. In one excerpt, he notes, “I was spiritually exhausted. I said what I wanted to say, no record company wanted to sign me anymore, so I walked my dog for seven years. I wanted to be very different; as different as I could be.” He adds with his characteristic chuckle, “[I was] thinking I’d never go back to music again.”
But of course, he did. The doc also looks at his second act, when he started his acting career, playing Silvio Dante on HBO’s The Sopranos, and he rejoined the E Street Band.
Other excerpts in the trailer see him looking back at his relationship with Springsteen. “‘Miami Steve’ was a character I was playing in the E Street Band,” he said. “The Dean Martin, [we were] the rock and roll Rat Pack.” Springsteen adds, “We were so close, I just wanted him near me. He just became my rock and roll brother, instantly.”
Other topics that the doc might hit could include his show-stopping 1997 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame speech presenting the Rascals, how he orchestrated the Rascals reunion (and how it went south), his second major acting role as Frank Tagliano, aka Giovanni “Johnny” Henriksen in the Netflix series Lilyhammer, and launching his own record label, Wicked Cool Records, which has put out music by bands including Soraia and the Dollyrots.
The trailer also shows Van Zandt in a classroom, so it’ll probably address his Teach Rock organization, which aims to incorporate the arts and music into schools’ curriculums. He told us about it, saying “One of our missions [is] to make sure that the arts are part of the DNA of education. But along the way, we are actually creating a new methodology for teaching in general. We kinda stumbled upon this accidentally. We realized early on that these kids are smarter than us, and faster than us, and have absolutely no patience.”
Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple will air on June 22 on Max.
