When you're from Jersey, part of growing up is sneaking into places.

For many, it's the movies, sporting events, Great Adventure, beaches, etc. But for former E Street Drummer Vinie "Mad Dog" Lopez, it was with the band sneaking into see both James Taylor and Eric Clapton on two separate occasions.

Lopez called Steve Trevelise on his way home from the Emmanuel Cancer Foundation Golf Tournament to talk about it.

Before the E Street Band there was Steel Mill, which consisted of Bruce Springsteen, Vinie Lopez, Danny Federici, Vinnie Roslin and manager Carl "Tinker" West.

"We just had opened for Roy Orbison in Nashville," Lopez said. "We're driving home and we pass by Chapel Hill and they had this big festival with James Taylor playing and we wanted to play, but we weren't invited."

So they get this idea and here's where the "Jersey" kicks in...

They pulled the truck up and Lopez got out, jumped over a fence, and found his way to where all the equipment trucks were. They told the cop that their truck was gong to be there in ten minutes, They got in, set up their stuff and got caught, but they almost played!

The good news is, according to Lopez, "We got to stay for the whole show but we definitely got in."

Then, there was the time with Eric Clapton:

We were in San Francisco playing at the "Carousel Ballroom" on a Tuesday night and Eric Clapton was playing there that Friday. We all wanted to go see Clapton, so what we did was empty our guitar cases and went to the stage door, they let us in! They asked if were were with the band, we said yes, and the rest is history.

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