The smile of a man who is going to see Springsteen - for free.

     We offered two tickets to see Bruce in Baltimore on Friday, you barraged us with entries (stop, please stop!) and we conducted our random drawing (which involved numbering the entries, cutting up squares from an old Simpsons calendar and putting them in a shoebox.)

  The result: Robert J. Strupp and his wife Julie Friedman Dechowitz, will be going to see The Boss at First Mariner Arena. Congratulations, Rob, you have won our first contest (known at Brew HQ as “Baltimore Brewwwwse!”)

      Strupp, a Baltimore Brew reader who is also director of research and policy at the Community Law Center, said he had wanted to attend the concert but didn’t feel like he could do it, partly because he’s going out of town on Saturday, the day after the concert.

     “When I saw that he was going to be in Baltimore, I was wishing I had the time and the financial wherewithal to do it,” said Strupp, who lives in Pikesville. “I entered the contest but never in my wildest dreeams did I think I would win.”

     Strupp said he’s always liked Springsteen’s music but especially warmed up to him in recent years, when his music took a more overtly political, folky turn. What really opened Strupp’s eyes was his first time seeing Springsteen live: he went with his wife to Bruce’s 2006 performance of the Seeger Sessions material at Nissan Pavillion.

      “I saw what he did at that concert, it was after Katrina, it was unbelievable stuff,” Struppp recalled. “He did ‘We Shall Overcome’ and ‘When the Saints Come Marching In.’”  The Washington Post described it as “a remarkable jamboree centered on spirituals, political broadsides, civil rights songs, Dust Bowl anthems and protest ballads.”

      No surprise that this side of Bruce appeals to Strupp. At the Community Law Center, Strupp’s projects are aimed at combatting predatory lending, deceptive real estate transactions and other precursors to foreclosure and abandoned properties. He is one of the good guys recently featured in the movie “American Casino.”  .And this week’s City Paper has a piece on Strupp that focuses on his campaign to root out the scams behind “bandit” signs like these.

Strupp with an illegal sign he took down recently.

Strupp may like the political Bruce, but his wife is more enamored of classic “Born To Run” Springsteen.

     When he heard he won, Strupp’s first thought was: “My wife is going to go ballistic,” and not just because she loves his music.

     ”My wife actually dated a cousin of his sound man in the 70s,” so she “was sort of a roadie,” Strupp said. He thinks she has a shot of getting backstage. We hope, if that happens, to give you a follow-up.