Here’s an update to the story below.
redbankgreen spoke tonight with Judy Barnaby, the Antique Center employee who waited on Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa on Friday afternoon.
Barnaby echoes what Guy Johnson told us earlier: that the couple was holding hands, and laughing with dealers and customers as they shopped for about an hour.
They even stopped and picked up a couple of old instruments, which they tuned up and used to give an impromptu concert lasting about five minutes.
“Bruce was strumming an old guitar, and Patti was strumming an old mandolin, and they were singing and cuttin’ up and have a good time,” says Barnaby. Customers in the store at the time were naturally “enthralled,” says Barnaby, and the intruments were immediately snapped up for purchase afterward.
And according to Barnaby, who’s known Springsteen for 20 years, they were not hiding from the rumor that their marriage was on the rocks.
“I got a hug from Patti, and I told her I was very happy to see that they were back together,” says Barnaby. “She said, ‘Isn’t this the pits?’ referring to the coverage. She said, ‘Isn’t it ridiculous? My friends are more upset than I am.’ “
“Several of the dealers said the same thing to them—that they were sorry to see what was in the papers. But (Springsteen and Scialfa) said it was ridiculous.”
“The rumor’s not true, from the horse’s mouth,” says Barnaby. “They were holding hands and kissing and carrying on. They weren’t any different than they have been in the past 20 years. They were their old selves. They enjoyed themselves, and they took their goodies and went home.”
Barnaby declined to discuss what the couple purchased or how much they spent, out of respect for their privacy and fear of dissuading them from returning.
“They bought a lot of nice things,” she says. “They’re nice people and they’re human beings and they like to shop.”
[Note: a photo of a yellow building that ran with an earlier version of this story was included by mistake. It’s not the building where Springsteen and Scialfa were shopping Friday.]
